SABERES E PRÁTICAS TRADICIONAIS DE SAÚDE NO CONTEXTO AMAZÔNICO: A PERCEPÇÃO DE USUÁRIOS E TERAPEUTAS TRADICIONAIS

This study aimed to understand the perception of the rural population and traditional therapists in the municipality of Cametá/Pará regarding traditional health knowledge and practices. A descriptive-observational study with a qualitative approach was conducted with nine traditional therapists and 30 users of traditional therapies, mainly living in rural areas of Cametá, Pará, Brazil. The instrumentation used involved a sociodemographic data form to characterize the sample and two interview scripts, consisting of open-ended questions about access, use and perception of participants regarding traditional health services. Thematic-categorical content analysis was chosen for the analysis of qualitative data. The results indicated that the rural-riverside community incorporates traditional health knowledge and practices into their care routines, associating these practices with the treatment of diseases, faith and access to health services. It is concluded that the community studied recognizes and values ​​traditional health practices in their daily lives. There was great importance in understanding the issues of access and use of health services by rural people, in order to understand the need to resort to traditional health practices and how important they are for this population.