Humanization in health care and racial inequalities: an intervention proposal

Abstract

The study reports the project "Humanização do parto e nascimento: questões étnico/racial e de gênero" [Humanization of childbirth care: ethnic/race and gender issues], an action/intervention research developed in the Hospital Geral de São Mateus Dr. Manoel Bifulco, in São Paulo (SP), Brazil. The objective was to sensitize the hospital team about maternal mortality among black women and discuss the impact of racism in health care. The following documents were used as documental sources: management reports, established partnerships, official letters, expenditure reports and the book Nascer com Equidade [Born with equity]. The project's seven stages were: sensitization and negotiation within the Secretaria de Estado da Saúde de São Paulo (SES-SP) [State Secretariat of Health of São Paulo]; sensitization and negotiation with the Brazilian Ministry of Health; sensitization and establishment of an agreement with the health service; diagnosis of the situation in the hospital; sensitizing the professionals towards gender and race issues, introducing the race data collection in the forms of the hospital's data bank; training hospital staff; forming social movements within the neighborhood. The project's results were: the collection of data on race became routine, and prompted the Ministry of Health to adopt this information request in all its forms; professionals were trained in women's health care and sensitized to the specificities of the black population; and there were changes in how the health care team perceives the presence of the father at birth, creating the campaign "Fathers are not visitors". The project was effective in broaching those complex issues and it may be replicated elsewhere.