Participation in the health systems of Brazil and Portugal: potentials and challenges

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to analyze how the right to participation is conceptualized and how it is implemented in the Brazilian and Portuguese public health. To this end, the article unfolds into three items: i. conceptual reflection on public participation in the health systems; ii. analysis of the references on public participation found in the National Health Plans of Brazil and Portugal; iii. analysis of the legal and institutional participatory designs in the health systems of the two countries. The text, based in a bibliographic and documentary study, adopts a socio-historical perspective of participation in health, supported by Brazilian and Portuguese literature on the subject. The results indicate, in Brazil, a participation in the institutionalized spaces of the Sistema Único de Saúde (SUS) (Councils and Conferences), understood as a form of democratization of the state and society. In Portugal, participation tends to focus on better patient information (health literacy) and the defense of their interests before the Serviço Nacional de Saúde (SNS).