O papel das lideranças comunitárias em projetos de saúde e ambiente : uma análise das redes sociais em comunidades do Rio Tapajós, Pará

AUTOR(ES)
DATA DE PUBLICAÇÃO

2009

RESUMO

Deforestation practices in Amazon region lead to the development of two health problems related to inappropriate land use. One of them is mercurial contamination, which occurs through the erosion and lixiviation of the soil, when the mercury naturally found on the ground of the region contaminates the aquatic eco-system, accumulating in the trophic chains reaching the ribeirinhos populations who have fish as their main source of protein in their diet. Slash and burn practices cause the proliferation of palm trees (Attalea sp), which are currently considered the main habitat of the Triatominae - the insect responsible for the transmission of Chagas disease, which has increased in tropical and humid forests. The study is part of an interdisciplinary research that aims at understanding the relationship between deforestation and agricultural practices of rural communities, and human health regarding the emergence of Chagas disease and mercurial contamination. This research has been carried out in three communities of the Medium Tapajos, Brazilian Amazon, and it is based on the ecosystem approach, where researchers and the community work in a transdisciplinary, participatory and equalitarian way. The main objective is to analyze the importance of the leaders in health, agriculture and development in the participatory process of ecohealth projects, through the study of social network groups in the three communities. We interviewed 91% of the individuals over 14 years old from the three communities, in order to map social networks related to power, and to information exchanges regarding agricultural practices and health. Leadership in the group was studied using centrality measures. The results showed the importance of leaders to promote participation of the community in the project activities. We identified and characterized all community leaders related to power, agricultural practices and health. Afterward, we selected potential leadership to include in a long-term integrated participatory process, that links different areas, promoting knowledge sharing and transdisciplinarity in complex ecosystems and health problems.

ASSUNTO(S)

redes sociais participatory research pesquisa participativa social networks leadership community participation participação comunitária lideranças outros

ACESSO AO ARTIGO

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