Paper
Friday, July 13, 2007
This presentation is part of : Women's Healthcare Issues
Access to pre-natal care and cervical cancer prevention action among women from the Brazilian Landless Workers Movement
Eunice Nakamura, MA, PhD1, Ana Luiza Vilela Borges, RN, MSc, PhD2, Sayuri Tanaka Maeda, RN, MSc, PhD2, Daniela Miyahiro, RN2, and Lucila Fernandes Silva, RN2. (1) Collective Health Nursing Department, São Paulo University School Nursing, São Paulo, Brazil, (2) Nursing Collective Health Department, Sao Paulo University, Sao Paulo, Brazil
Learning Objective #1: discuss rural women access to reproductive health care
Learning Objective #2: show a particular health experience of brazilian rural settled women

The major advance in Brazilian health care services occurred from the recognition that health is a right of all citizens and the Government's responsibility. In order to guarantee health as a universal social right a Unified National Health System (UNHS) was created. Considering that, it is assumed that all health problems should be resolved mainly considering population's health needs. Nevertheless,  a particular women group of Brazilian Rural Landless Workers Movement (MST) has a limited access to health services, closely related to the geographical area where camps and settlements are located, to movement' s structure that does not allow a fixed housing and to the discrimination faced by the workers of MST in urban areas and their impoverished condition. In the search for answers to comprehend the gap between the UNHS theoretical guidelines and the real condition of access to the health care services, this study aimed to investigate these women group access to reproductive health care, taking pre-natal care and cervical cancer prevention action as parameters. An exploratory qualitative research – using semi-structured questionnaire – was carried out with five 18 to 45 year-old women, who had already been through a pregnancy, living in Sister Alberta Camp, integrating MST, located on the outskirts of Sao Paulo City, Brazil. These women had access to the pre-natal care by using mechanisms like giving false addresses. Pap smear tests were done just during pregnancy. Health care delivered to these women was fragmentised and they were assisted solely because of their reproductive condition. Access to health services must be understood as continuous and complete assistance in all phases of woman's life. Thus, improving information and education to these women, especially by nursing professionals, could be a chance to guarantee the access to health based on equity.