Gestores do SUS: apoio e resistências à Homeopatia Support for and resistance to Homeopathy among managers of the Unified National Health System

Este artigo apresenta parte dos resultados de pesquisa que investigou características do movimento de aproximação e afastamento entre homeopatas e médicos da Biomedicina, segundo o ponto de vista dos profissionais não homeopatas. Foram entrevistados 48 profissionais de saúde (docentes, gestores e médicos que trabalham na rede publica). Toma-se para análise apenas os resultados das entrevistas com gestores. Foram usadas como referências as concepções de: campo social e científico de Bourdieu; racionalidades médicas de Madel Luz; arranjos tecnológicos do trabalho em saúde de Mendes-Gonçalves e de identidade profissional de médico de Donnangelo e de Schraiber. Os resultados indicam que o apoio de gestores à presença da Homeopatia no SUS relaciona-se à percepção da demanda social, à defesa do direito de escolha dos usuários e à constatação de tratar-se de uma prática médica que resgata a dimensão humanista da medicina, contribuindo assim para a satisfação do usuário. As dificuldades e resistências apontadas pelos gestores ressaltam que a falta de informações sobre os procedimentos homeopáticos limita as possibilidades de utilização da Homeopatia porque gera insegurança sobre esta medicina.<br>This article presents partial findings from a study on trends towards greater or lesser proximity between homeopathic and allopathic physicians, from the perspective of the latter. Forty-eight health professionals were interviewed (faculty, managers, and physicians working in the public health system). This specific article focused only on the interviews with health system managers. The following concepts were used as references: social and scientific field (Bourdieu); medical rationalities (Madel Luz); technological arrangements in health work (Mendes-Gonçalves); and physician's professional identity (Donnangelo & Schraiber). According to the findings, support by managers for the presence of Homeopathy in the Unified National Health System is related to their perception of social demand, defense of patients' right to choose, and the observation that it is a medical practice that reclaims the humanist dimension of medicine, thus contributing to user satisfaction. The difficulties and resistances identified by managers highlight that the lack of information on homeopathic procedures limits the possibilities for use of Homeopathy because it leads to insecurity towards this area of medicine

Towards the glocalisation of complementary and alternative medicine: homeopathy, acupuncture and traditional Chinese medicine practice and regulation in Brazil and Portugal

Complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) has been presented in the sociological literature as a global phenomenon. Yet CAM has simultaneously been shaped by different ‘civic epistemologies’, or national cultures, and re-embedded into local contexts. This ‘glocalism’ of CAM, in turn, is a result of intercultural exchanges over time. This chapter compares CAM practice and regulation in two countries with a long-standing relationship—Brazil and Portugal. Homeopathy, acupuncture and traditional Chinese medicine have been chosen as case studies. We show how Brazil and Portugal, despite their participation in CAM’s global culture, have presented differing national projects on the subject, as well as how these projects have resulted from intercultural hybridism over time. This chapter highlights the glocalism and interculturalism of CAM, a perspective largely absent from its sociological analysis to date