It concerns an essay that presents reflections on the search and the practice of the social participation in the Brazilian Unified Health System (SUS), including the understanding of its concept as to how the different actions of the social groups influence the formularization, execution, fiscalization and evaluation of the public policies. Therefore the participation of the community in the health system is considered an essential condition for the full exercise of the health, capable of promoting fairness and to transforming the health attention. The building of citizenship and the formation of collective citizens are taken as beddings for the conquest of democratic spaces and social rights. The current normalization of the public participation has been mapped considering its advances, but also stating its fragilities, mainly those that concerning the participation out of health councils and conferences. In the institutional environment, some elements where pointed as necessary to consolidate and effect the communitarian participation, like the relation between the actors and the communication for the socialization of health information and knowledge. Questions of the subject are also sought by bringing to attention some of the critical obstacles in relation to the social participation. This essay is intended to collaborate in behalf of the real democratization of the different spaces where the civil society can be heard, transforming these places in more appropriate locations to make decisions concerning the construction of health policies and services. The population can benefit from these spaces collectively surpassing the simple bureaucratic obligatoriness of the participation and contributing for the health and quality of life.
Consumer Participation; Citizen Participation; Social Participation; Patient Participation