Introdução - Esta pesquisa discute o papel do agente comunitário de saúde (ACS) na identificação dos casos de violência doméstica contra a mulher, considerando sua dimensão e alcance nas relações humanas e os aspectos que contribuíram para sua invisibilidade ao longo da história, além dos prejuízos à saúde e qualidade de vida dos indivíduos, tornando-se um problema de saúde pública. Postula-se que o estudo das representações sociais deste profissional venha a favorecer a efetividade das ações e intervenções da equipe de saúde da família. Objetivo - conhecer e problematizar as representações do ACS sobre a violência doméstica contra a mulher. Método - Convidamos a participar da pesquisa todos os agentes comunitários de saúde das cinco Unidades de Saúde da Família do município de Jundiaí. Foram realizados cinco grupos focais e, para análise das representações sociais, utilizou-se a técnica de Análise de Conteúdo de Bardin. Resultados - As representações dos agentes comunitários quanto ao aspecto privado e particular das relações, bem como a responsabilização da mulher pela compreensão de sua autonomia para romper com o ciclo de violência, despontaram como aspectos desfavoráveis para a reflexão nas questões de gênero, assim como para a elaboração das ações pelos serviços de saúde. A assimilação dessas representações refletiu, inclusive, no distanciamento dos agentes comunitários do contexto de violência contra a mulher, já que para esses profissionais, o limite entre a esfera pública e privada não deve ser ultrapassada sem permissão, consentimento ou pedido de ajuda da mulher. Outros aspectos, como a confusão entre notificação e denúncia, o descrédito na Lei Maria da Penha, o medo de exposição e retaliação na pós-denúncia, a insegurança quanto ao sigilo e a ética dos profissionais de Segurança Pública produziram nos agentes comunitários o desinteresse pela notificação compulsória e a resistência tanto à realização da denúncia, bem como à orientação da mulher a fazer o boletim de ocorrência. Conclusão - Levando-se em consideração a complexidade do problema, aponta-se para a capacitação dos agentes comunitários e demais profissionais da equipe de saúde em uma perspectiva direcionada à abordagem das violências. Entende-se, no entanto, que a formação desses profissionais não pode ser pensada à parte de um contexto adverso de organização do serviço, que envolve a terceirização, a precarização e a rotina de trabalho estressante voltada para metas. Logo, não é apenas a capacitação do profissional que irá resolver essa questão, mas a consideração de outros elementos como o engajamento da Saúde na transformação da cultura, principalmente o que concerne às representações de gênero. Dessa forma, a saúde poderá contribuir para práticas transformadoras, viabilizando a discussão em articulação com os movimentos sociais e a sociedade sobre essa possibilidade de mudança. / Introduction - The present research discusses the relevance of the community health worker (CHW) in identifying cases of domestic violence against women, considering their dimension and scope in human relations and the aspects that contributed to their invisibility throughout history, as well as the health and quality of life of individuals, becoming a public health problem. It is postulated that the study of social representations of this professional may favor effectiveness of actions and interventions of the family health team. Objective - to know and to problematize the representations of the CHW on domestic violence against the woman. Method - all the community health workers from five Family Health Units from Jundiaí were invited to participate in the survey. Five focus groups were carried out and Bardin Content Theme Analysis was used to analyse the social representations. Results - The representations of the community health worker regarding the private and particular aspect of the relations, as well as the women\'s responsibility for the understanding of their autonomy to break with the cycle of violence, emerged as unfavorable aspects for the reflection on the gender issues as well as for the elaboration of the actions by the health services. The assimilation of these representations also reflected in the distancing of community health worker from the context of violence against women, since for these professionals, the limit between the public and private sphere should not be surpassed without women\'s permission, consent or request for help. Other aspects such as the confusion between notification and denunciation, disrepute in the Maria da Penha Law, the fear of exposure and retaliation in the post-denunciation and the insecurity about the secrecy and the ethics of Public Safety professionals produced in the community health worker the lack of interest in the notification and the resistance to both the denunciation and the orientation of the woman to make the report of occurrence. Conclusion - Taking into account the complexity of the problem, it is pointed to the training of community health worker and other professionals of the health team in a perspective aimed at approaching violence. It is understood, however, that the training of these professionals can not be thought apart from an adverse context of organization of the service, which involves outsourcing, precariousness and stressful work routine geared toward goals. Therefore, it is not only the training of the professional that will solve this question, but the consideration of other elements such as the engagement of health in the transformation of culture, especially with regard to gender representations. In this way, health can contribute to transformative practices, enabling discussion in articulation with social movements and society about this possibility of change.

Introduction: Ensuring universal access to primary health care (PHC) is a key component of the Ethiopian nationalhealth policy. The policy also emphasises promoting and enhancing national self-reliance in health development bymobilizing and efficiently utilizing resources including community participation. To this end, the government introducedthe accelerated expansion of the PHC strategy through a comprehensive health extension programme (HEP). HEP is afamily and community-based health care delivery system institutionalised at health post level which combines carefullyselected high impact promotive, preventive and basic curative interventions. All HEP interventions are promotive and preventive except the malaria intervention which, in addition, incorporates a curative service. In the country, malaria is a leading disease. Unlike most Sub-Saharan African countries where P. falciparum accounts for almost all malaria infections, in Ethiopia both P. falciparum and P. vivax are co-dominant. Considering this peculiar epidemiological nature, the national guideline recommends alternative diagnosis and treatment strategies. Rationale: The lack of adequate resources and the efficiency with which available resources are being utilised are the main challenges in any health care setting. Therefore, if the HEP which consumes consideral amount of resource desires to reach its intended goal, monitoring and improving its efficiency is of great public heath importance. HEP has been successful in improving access to PHC including the malaria diagnosis and treatment service. Though this is a crucial measure, its quality ought to be considered. For the malaria curative service, studying the cost-effectiveness of the available strategy and patients’ adherence to the treatment regimen can be considered as proxy measures of quality for which local evidence is lacking. However, none of the existing studies in this field of research has addressed the Ethiopian malaria epidemiological context and its diagnosis and treatment guideline. In Tigray, for more than two decades, access to malaria early diagnosis and prompt treatment was facilitated by volunteer community healthworkers (CHWs). However, with the introduction of artemether-lumefantrine (AL) the service was compromised mainly for reasons of cost, safety and logistic. Therefore, it was important to explore the feasibility and the impact of community deployment of AL with rapid diagnostic tests (RDTs). The aim: to explore the overall performance of HEP and particularly the access to and quality of malaria early diagnosis and prompt treatment in the Tigray region of Ethiopia. Methods: Different study designs and populations were used for each of the four specific objectives. Data envelop analysis (DEA) was applied to assess the HEP efficiency. For this, register data for the output variables and primary data for the input and the environmental factors were collected. A health provider perspective cost-effectiveness analysis was used to determine which among the currently available diagnostic and treatment strategies is best for the country. Effectiveness data were generated from a stratified cross-sectional survey and secondary data were used to calculate the cost. For measuring adherence to the six-dose AL regimen, an assessment questionnaire and pill count was employed at patients´ home. To determine whether deploying AL with RDT at community level was feasible and effective, a number of designs were used: longitudinal follow-up, cross-sectional surveys, cost analysis, verbal autopsyquestionnaires and focal group discussions. Main findings: More than three-quarters of the health posts were found to be technically inefficient with an average score of 42%, which implies potentially they could improve their efficiency by 58%. Scale of operation was not a cause of inefficiency. None of the considered environmental factors was associated with efficiency. The Parascreen-based strategy (multispecies RDT-BS) was found to be the most cost-effective strategy, which allowed treating correctly an additional 65% of patients with less cost than the paracheck-BS. Presumptive-BS was highly dominated. Among P.falciparum positive patients to whom AL was prescribed, more than a quarter did not finish their treatment. The main reasons for interrupting the dose were ‘too many tablets’ and ‘felt better before finishing the dose’. The ownership of aradio, the belief that malaria cannot be treated traditionally and a delay of more than one day in seeking treatment after the onset of fever were significantly associated with being adherent. Deploying AL with RDT at community level was demonstrated to be effective and feasible. In the intervention district, almost 60% of suspected cases were managed by CHWs. Malaria transmission was lower at least threefold and malaria mortality risk by around 40% compared to the control district. The use of RDTs reduced cost and possibly the risk of drug resistance development. Conclusion: Though improving access to health care is important, it should be considered a means, not an end. Themore accessible a system is the more people could utilise it to improve their health. Thus, ensuring the access obtainedthrough HEP is maintained, its quality is improved and efficiently utilised to its optimal productivity level is a necessarytask. The DEA study revealed a high level of inefficiency where majority of the health posts needed improvement.This thesis also found parascreen-BS to be the most cost-effective strategy and that there is no epidemiological andeconomical contextual justification to keep both, the presumptive-BS and the RDT-BS specific only to P.falciparum.The high poor adherence levels raises great concern as it leads to recurrent malaria attacks of the patient, speed upthe development and spread of drug resistance strains and reduces the effect of the drug on the transmission. Therefore,providing effective drug alone is not sufficient; assessing and monitoring adherence to the treatment is by faressential. Deployment of AL with RDT through a community-based service has shown an enormous impact in termsof cost, transmission, morbidity and mortality. However, it is worth noting that this results came from an area wherea community-based service has been involved in the PHC system for more than three decades.

Estima-se que 52% da população mundial faz uso de álcool, sendo a droga mais consumida no mundo. Ao usuário, o álcool torna-se prejudicial devido às consequências nos níveis biológicos, sociais e funcionais. Assim, a redução do uso abusivo da substância é um dos objetivos da Organização Mundial de Saúde (OMS) e uma das prioridades na agenda de saúde pública mundial. No Brasil, a Política do Ministério da Saúde para a Atenção Integral aos Usuários de Álcool e Outras Drogas teve como objetivo a criação de uma rede de atenção integral a eles - a RAPS (Rede de Atenção Psicossocial). A RAPS é considerada um grande avanço da Reforma Psiquiátrica, já que integra os diversos pontos de atenção disponíveis no Sistema Único de Saúde (SUS). Um dos pontos da RAPS é a Atenção Básica (AB), que através da atuação das equipes da Estratégia Saúde da Família (ESF) tem a possibilidade de monitoração, prevenção do uso e colaboração na reinserção social dos usuários de álcool e outras drogas devido à proximidade e criação de vínculo entre o serviço e usuário. Para que o vínculo seja estabelecido o Agente Comunitário de Saúde (ACS) é a peça fundamental, visto que conhece a comunidade e reconhece suas necessidades, além de ser a figura que medeia as relações entre a equipe de saúde e os usuários. Assim sendo, o objetivo deste estudo foi descrever e analisar o discurso de ACS sobre o uso de álcool e a assistência prestada na AB. Trata-se de um estudo qualitativo de teor descritivo, cuja pesquisa ocorreu em cinco municípios da região central do Estado de Santa Catarina. Foram realizadas entrevistas semiestruturadas, analisadas através do método da Análise de Conteúdo. A análise das entrevistas resultou na formulação de duas categorias e quatro subcategorias empíricas. Os resultados evidenciaram que os ACS percebem o consumo de álcool como inerente a população em virtude da cultura caracterizada pelo consumo habitual e festivo da droga. Eles percebem que o uso do álcool torna-se um problema quanto à definição social atribuída pela comunidade, ressaltando as consequências para a família e outras perdas vivenciadas pelos usuários com base nas repercussões sociais. Quanto à assistência prestada por eles aos usuários de álcool, os resultados indicaram uma prática desprovida de instrumentos ou habilidades para a abordagem adequada do uso, evidenciando uma prática infundada pelos ACS. A prática está pautada também nas crenças em relação aos usuários de álcool, que estão muito ligadas aos estigmas relacionados a estes usuários em geral e não em evidências científicas. Conclui-se que a partir do conhecimento das percepções e práticas deste profissional, é possível direcionar ações que potencialize a prática dos ACS, já que são profissionais com grandes possibilidades de atuação diante da prevenção e tratamento do abuso de álcool e reabilitação social do usuário / It is estimated that 52% of the population uses alcohol, being the most consumed drug in the world. For the user, the alcohol becomes harmful due to the consequences in the biological, social and functional levels. Thus, reducing the alcohol abuse is one of the World Health Organization\'s (WHO) goals and one of the priorities in the global public health agenda. In Brazil, the Health Ministry\'s Policy for Integral Attention to Alcohol and Other Drug Users aimed to create a network care to them - the RAPS (Psychosocial Care Network). The RAPS is considered a major breakthrough of the Psychiatric Reform, as it integrates the various points of care available in the Unified Health System (UHS). One of the RAPS points is the Primary Care (PC), which through the performance of the Family Health Strategy\'s teams (FHS) has the possibility of monitoring, the use prevention and collaboration to the social reintegration of alcohol and other drug users due to proximity and bond between service and the users. So that the link is established the Community Health Workers (CHW) is the keystone, as they know the community and recognize their needs as well as being the figure that mediates the relationship between health staff and users. So, the aim of this study was to describe and analyze the ACS speech on the alcohol use and on the assistance provided in AB. It is a qualitative study of descriptive content, whose research took place in five municipalities of the central region of Santa Catarina State. Semi-structured interviews were conducted, analyzed through the Content Analysis method. The data analysis resulted in the formulation of two empirical categories and four empirical subcategories.The results showed that ACS perceive alcohol consumption as inherent in population due to the culture characterized by the drug\'s customary and festive use. They realize that alcohol use becomes a problem as the social definition given by the community, highlighting the consequences for the family and other losses experienced by users based on their social impact. Regarding the assistance given by them to alcohol users, the results indicated an unprovided practice of tool or skills to the appropriate approach to the consumption, showing an unfounded practice by ACS. The practice is also guided by beliefs concerning to alcohol users, which are closely linked to stigmas generally related to these users and not on scientific evidences. We concluded that by the professional\'s knowledge of perceptions and practices, it\'s possible to direct actions that leverage their practice, since they are professionals with great possibilities of acting on treatment and prevention of alcohol abuse and user\'s social rehabilitation

Magister Artium (Medical Anthropology) - MA(Med Ant) / Women are the principle providers of their families when it comes to issues of health care, even though their health needs and efforts are neglected. The contributions that they make to health development seem to be undervalued, and their working conditions ignored. Societies depend heavily on women as role players in the welfare of their families and of national economics together with their physical well-being which determines the ability to be productive. The study has provided an overview of the experiences of women concerning primary health care and the quality of service in Nolungile PHC Khayelitsha, Cape Town. Primary health care (PHC) forms an integral part both of the country‘s health system and the overall social and economic development of the community. Central to the PHC approach is full community participation in the planning, provision, control and monitoring of services. Priority has to be given to the improvement of women‘s social and economic status.A much neglected perspective in health issues is that, a number of questions arise from the provision of PHC. Does PHC rely on the contribution of women and if so, why women? Women in their communities have joined their hands together as community health workers, educating community members on issues of health. The study has provided an insight of the work that women are doing in their communities, and how do they give meaning to their experiences in PHC. The study also answered questions that raise fundamental issues on gender stereotyping and disparities in PHC. The study gave me an opportunity to work closely with the women while observing the challenges that they are facing and how to they overcome them in the daily lives.Changes are called towards the attitudes of health care providers working in the formal and nonformal sectors. The provision of health education for women ultimately empowers them as health educators for the community.

African American women have significantly higher mortality rates from heart disease and stroke than White women despite advances in treatment and the management of risk factors. Community health workers (CHWs) serve important roles in culturally relevant programs to prevent disease and promote health. This article describes the Pine Apple Heart and Stroke Project's activities to (1) revise the Women's Wellness Sourcebook Module III: Heart and Stroke to be consistent with national guidelines on heart disease and stroke and to meet the needs of African American women living in rural southern communities; (2) train CHWs using the revised curriculum; and (3) evaluate the training program. Revisions of the curriculum were based on recommendations by an expert advisory panel, the staff of a rural health clinic, and feedback from CHWs during training. Questionnaires after training revealed positive changes in CHWs' knowledge, attitudes, self-efficacy, and self-reported risk reduction behaviors related to heart disease, stroke, cancer, and patient-provider communication. This study provides a CHW training curriculum that may be useful to others in establishing heart disease and stroke programs in rural underserved communities.

Magister Artium (Psychology) - MA(Psych) / While community health workers possess valuable insight into health care delivery in South Africa, their voices and experiences are seldom sought in the acquisition of knowledge surrounding relevant social concerns. This research aimed to explore community health workers’ perspectives of mother–infant bonding within the first 1000 days of life. The first 1000 days of a child’s life are a delicate yet highly consequential period affecting future physical, cognitive, and socio-emotional growth. The bond between mother and infant within the first 1000 days is especially critical as it is within the bounds of this relationship that a child is fed, cared for, and kept safe. Furthermore, mother–infant bonding lays an essential foundation for future development. However, there is a paucity of contextualized literature, particularly regarding mother–infant bonding in the first 1000 days. In practice, mother–infant interventions are often delivered by community health workers. Through their work, community health workers gain a wealth of knowledge and information about the experiences and practices of bonding within their community. Their insights are a potentially untapped resource which could be used to supplement research and interventions with local, contextualized wisdom. The aim of this research was to explore community health workers’ perspectives of mother–infant bonding within the first 1000 days in Khayelitsha, South Africa. The study utilized a qualitative methodological framework and an exploratory research design. Semi-structured individual interviews were conducted with 15 experienced community health workers, who were purposively selected from a non-governmental organization located in Khayelitsha, South Africa. Data were thematically analysed, and five primary themes emerged from the analysis, namely: (1) the importance of the first 1000 days; (2) the centrality of mother–infant bonding within the first 1000 days; (3) effective approaches to bonding are simple, natural, and free; (4) the inhibitors of mother–infant bonding; and (5) the need for support. Trustworthiness and researcher reflexivity practices were integrated throughout the research process. Ethics considerations were prioritized, and included providing informed consent, ensuring confidentiality and anonymity, and informing participants of their rights as stipulated by the University of the Western Cape Biomedical Research Ethics Committee.

No description available.

Rationale Epilepsy is a common, chronic, neurological condition that disproportionately affects individuals living in low- and middle- income countries, including much of sub-Saharan Africa. Epilepsy is treatable, with the majority of individuals who take anti-epileptic drugs experiencing a reduction, or elimination, of seizures. Yet the number of individuals taking and adhering to medication in Africa is low and interventions aimed at improving treatment are lacking. Aims To define the epidemiology of convulsive epilepsy in rural South Africa in terms of incidence, mortality and disability-adjusted life years; to determine outpatient, out-of-pocket costs resulting from epilepsy treatment; to establish the level of adherence to anti-epileptic drugs amongst people with epilepsy; and, to determine whether the introduction of routine visits to people with epilepsy by community health workers is a cost-effective intervention for improving adherence to anti-epileptic drugs. Methods Nested within the Agincourt Health and Demographic Surveillance System, this work utilized a cohort of individuals diagnosed with convulsive epilepsy in 2008 to determine health care utilization and out-of-pocket costs due to care sought for epilepsy. Additionally, using blood samples from the cohort, anti-epileptic drug adherence was measured and, following the cohort, mortality rates were determined. Using these collected epidemiological parameters, disability-adjusted life years due to convulsive epilepsy were determined. Finally, combining the epidemiological and cost parameters, a community health worker intervention was modeled to determine its incremental cost-effectiveness ratio. Key Findings The burden of convulsive epilepsy is lower in rural South Africa than other parts of Africa, likely due to lower levels of known risk factors. Yet the burden, especially in terms of mortality, remains high, as does the treatment gap and health care utilization. Findings from the economic evaluation found the introduction of a community health worker to be highly cost-effective and would likely lower the burden of epilepsy in rural South Africa. Implications Epilepsy contributes to the burden of disease in rural South Africa, with high levels of mortality and a substantial treatment gap. The introduction of a community-health worker is likely to be one cost-effective, community based intervention that would lower the burden of epilepsy by improving adherence to anti-epileptic drugs. Implementing this intervention, based on these findings, is a justified and important next step.

Introdução: O Programa de Saúde da Família (PSF) e o agente comunitário de saúde (ACS) aproximam-se dos usuários buscando unir o indivíduo, a família, a comunidade com o serviço de saúde. Além de agente de saúde e, portanto, vinculado à Instituição, o ACS que reside obrigatoriamente na mesma área onde exerce sua profissão, convive diretamente com as famílias e freqüentemente adentra em suas residências criando com elas um vínculo, observando e coletando informações sobre suas condições de vida e saúde. Objetivo: discutir a percepção do usuário quanto à privacidade e à confidencialidade das informações e conhecer como o mesmo relaciona a visita domiciliar ao seu direito à privacidade. Justificativa: apoiados no referencial teórico da bioética do cotidiano, esse trabalho de investigação justifica-se à medida que a garantia dos direitos à privacidade e à confidencialidade reflete diretamente na qualidade do atendimento. Método: estudo qualitativo, de natureza exploratória. Como instrumento de investigação elaborou-se um roteiro de entrevistas semi-estruturadas, com questões abertas. Foram entrevistados trinta usuários maiores de dezoito anos, cadastrados em uma Unidade Básica do PSF da região sudeste do município de São Paulo. Resultados: os entrevistados não consideraram a entrada do ACS em suas residências como uma invasão à sua privacidade. Poucos relacionaram o sigilo das informações como um direito e um possível desrespeito parece ser por eles justificado pela necessidade do cuidado e do melhor acesso ao serviço de saúde. Das doenças estigmatizadas desponta a AIDS, seguida do câncer, e em menor grau a tuberculose, as doenças da próstata e o diabetes. Conclusões: O ACS é percebido mais como um técnico, um profissional de saúde vinculado à Instituição e não como um cidadão pertencente à comunidade e, em função disso, a visita domiciliar não causa constrangimentos. Constatou-se tendência em se admitir que as informações dadas em sigilo seriam reveladas pelos ACS ou ainda, pela própria (des)organização do serviço de saúde, porém, parece haver certo conformismo do usuário em relação à percepção dessa violação, justificada pela melhoria no cuidado e no acesso ao serviço de saúde. Verificou-se a importância das relações de gênero e do cuidado quando da revelação de determinadas enfermidades estigmatizadas. A AIDS aparece como a enfermidade mais atrelada ao preconceito, seguida do câncer, tuberculose, as doenças da próstata e o diabetes. / Introduction: The Family Health Program (FHP) and the Community Health Workers (CHW) approach their users by trying to unite the individual, the family, the community and the health service. Besides being a health worker and, therefore, attached to the Institution, the CHW that obligatorily lives in the same area where s/he works, lives together with the families and frequently enters their residences, creating a bond, observing and collecting information about their life and health conditions. Objective: to get to know how the FHP user perceives his/her right to information privacy and confidentiality and how s/he relates the domicile visit to his/her right to privacy. Justification: this research paper justifies itself as the warranty of the rights to privacy and confidentiality reflects directly the quality of the treatment. Method: qualitative study, of exploratory nature and like an investigation instrument, a set of semi-structured interviews was developed, with open questions. Thirty users, all over 18 years old, who were registered at a FHP Unit in the southeast of Sao Paulo, were interviewed. Analysis and Results: the interviewees evaluated the FHP in a positive way and did not consider the entrance of the CHW in their houses as an invasion to their privacy. However, from what they narrated, it was possible to realize that many domicile visits have occurred from outside their houses. The technical aspect of the CHW was highlighted and, sometimes, information about stigmatized diseases was revealed to the agent with the aim of having a faster access to the treatment. Only a few users thought of the information secrecy maintenance as a right. Conclusions: There seems to be a tendency to accept the FHP, although it has been clear that there is some unawareness about its organization and the differences it has in relation to the traditional Primary Health Units. The CHW is often seen as a technician, a health professional attached to the Institution, but not as a citizen who belongs to that community, and, as a consequence of this, the home visit is not object of any embarrassment. A tendency in admitting that the pieces of information given in secret would be revealed by the CHW and by the health service own dis(organization) was also detected. From what was said, it could be seen how important the gender relationships and the care in revealing certain sicknesses are. Diseases like AIDS, tuberculosis, cancer, prostate diseases and even heart problems appeared as diseases that can cause prejudice. There seemed to have been certain acquiescence from the user in relation to the perception of the lack of respect to the secrecy of the revealed information.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-08-10T10:44:48Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 TANIA SUELY DA SILVA FERREIRA.pdf: 3926437 bytes, checksum: 2cdea3471708869db862fd41f21dcc14 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015-02-25 / Perception studies have a fundamental importance to understand the correlation between human beings and the natural environment. This research aimed to identify the perception of sustainable environments and its relationship with health. The approach to establish this relation took in consideration how the population deals with solid waste. The study was applied to a group of families from the Beira-Rio neighborhood in partnership with the local Community Health Workers (CHW). In total a hundred surveys were answered by residents and seven by CHW from the covered area. The survey tried to identify the correlation between the knowledge about environmental issues and the population s quality of life. The research pointed out different ways of environmental degradation in the neighborhood. The majority of the interviewed families consume water without proper treatment, which shows the lack of a sewage system in the area. Additionally, we conclude that there are other relevant issues in the community such as security. The CHW as an important pillar of the health services system should consider more the environmental issues in the population s daily health treatment and to preserve the ecosystem for the next generations. / Estudos no campo da percepção são de fundamental importância para compreender a inter-relação entre o homem e o meio ambiente. Esta pesquisa buscou identificar a percepção sobre saúde e meio ambiente na comunidade da área de abrangência da Estratégia Saúde da Família (ESF) no bairro Beira Rio. Bem como, identificar ações de educação ambiental junto à população em áreas adstrita da ESF. Foram aplicados questionários com 100 pessoas residentes na área de abrangência da equipe saúde da família e com 07 agentes comunitários de saúde (ACS) da mesma equipe, para saber qual a percepção dos sujeitos sobre questões ambientais e a relação destas com a qualidade de vida. A pesquisa apontou aspectos importantes que colaboram com a degradação ambiental de diversas formas e também identificou o nível de satisfação das pessoas em morar próximo ao rio Tocantins. Os resultados apontam ainda a falta de um sistema de esgoto e que a maioria consome água sem tratamento no domicílio. Conclui-se que além desses problemas há outros aspectos de maior relevância para a comunidade como a questão da segurança. Ao considerar o ACS um pilar da organização dos serviços de saúde, considera-se importante refletir sobre questões ambientais nas práticas de saúde para melhoria da qualidade de vida e preservação dos ecossistemas às gerações presentes e futuras.