A trajetória da pastoral da saúde na implantação da fitoterapia na região metropolitana do Espírito Santo
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Data
2025-09-12
Autores
Sacramento, Henriqueta Tereza do
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Universidade Federal do Espírito Santo
Resumo
Introduction: The Pastoral care in health is a civic-religious organization that develops health promotion and education initiatives, using herbal medicine and medicinal plants in healthcare for the population, through the implementation of community pharmacies within or near parishes. Medicinal plants are a therapeutic resource in the community and represent one of the first forms of care used by populations worldwide, related to tradition and culture. Objective: To understand the trajectory of pastoral health care for the implementation of phytotherapy in municipalities in the metropolitan region of Espírito Santo (ES). Methodology: The research used a combined methodological approach, integrating bibliographic review and field research. The documentary analysis explored publications from the Archdiocese of Vitória, the CNBB, and the Vatican from 1990 to 2020, and the literature review sought Brazilian scientific production from 2006 to 2024. A theoretical-conceptual essay was conducted, anchored in Boaventura de Souza Santos' “ecology of knowledge” and Morin's theory of complexity, articulating reflections on women's participation in pastoral health care practices and related national policies, such as Medicinal Plants and Phytotherapic Medicines, Integrative and Complementary Practices, in addition to the strategies of the World Health Organization (WHO). The empirical, qualitative research was conducted through semi-structured interviews with eight pastoral health agents in seven municipalities in the Metropolitan Region of ES. The data were analyzed according to Bardin's content analysis. Results: The work of the pastoral health agents, mostly Catholic women who support parish priests, is rooted in the context studied, and difficulties are overcome by the support they receive from the community itself. For health care, they resort to different types of care, methods of preparation, and provision of herbal medicines, with autonomy to decide on the model adopted. However, the lack of coordination with the Unified Health System hinders the dissemination of their work and keeps herbal medicine invisible. Despite their extensive work and accumulated experience, there is a significant gap in scientific production on the efficacy and safety of the species used by pastoral health care, pointing to the need to include the topic of herbal medicine in undergraduate and graduate courses and in the training of health professionals. Phytotherapy practiced by pastoral health agents combines science, tradition, and social practice as a strategy for community resilience and health autonomy and recognizes the interdependence between humans, plants, and spirituality. However, it is necessary to reflect, based on the epistemology of complexity and ecology of knowledge, whether the practice promoted by pastoral health agents can be called Integrative Community Phytotherapy, that is, a health care practice that articulates popular and scientific knowledge, society, and nature, promoting autonomy and community bonds through the conscious and contextualized use of medicinal plants, from an ecological, ethical, and integrative perspective
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Fitoterapia , Plantas medicinais , Medicina tradicional , Cultura , Promoção da saúde , Phytotherapy , Medicinal plants , Traditional medicine , Culture , Health promotion