A socio-historical retrospective of social participation and the construction of public policies for women's sexual and reproductive health care in Brazil

Abstract

The article deals with attention to the sexual and reproductive health of women in Brazil. The objective is to emphasize the way public policies on the subject have been built from the 1970s to the present day. They relate to the socio-political context of the country and to feminist movements, other women's movements and health and other professionals' movements. To contemplate this process, the text was organized into two blocks, in addition to the introduction and final considerations. In the first part, we present the history of public policies and programs of attention to sexual and reproductive health for women in Brazil. In the second, we emphasize social participation, feminist and women's movements. Wide-ranging surveys such as the Nascer no Brasil Survey indicate the persistence of non-recommended practices during pregnancy, childbirth and the postpartum period. Recent government initiatives such as the replacement of “Rede Cegonha” by the “Rede de Atenção Materna e Infantil” have contributed to the routinization of such procedures, weakening the movement of humanization of care for women.