Relação da comunidade LGBT com os serviços de saúde pública no município de Cajazeiras – Paraíba: qualidade e condições de acesso.

Abstract

The National Policy for Integral Health for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) is a milestone for national health, since, in addition to recognizing special needs of a particular community, it leads to the accountability of specific management bodies (i.e. Ministry of Health, State Health Department, Municipal Secretary of Health). Now, over four years since its creation, it is necessary to understand how this policy has been implemented and its social impacts. This study took the city of Cajazeiras to understand the relationship between users who identify themselves as LGBT and public health services especially in the context of Primary Care (PC). Data was collected through the so-called Focal Groups and a qualitative analysis of the discourse was performed based on the elaboration of the collective subject discourse. We list the main demands of the LGBT community and evaluate the resoluteness of health services in answering them. In addition, we evaluate the main barriers that hinder the access of the LGBT community to health services from the perspective: health worker vs client, finding the weakness of public health services, fear of confronting heteronormative social pattern and impracticality of national LGBT health policies, as the main elements in the marginalization process of this group access to public health. Finally, we provide a critical insight on the paths to be followed in order to strengthen the effectiveness of the National Health System (SUS) in the region.