A comunidade do mangue do bairro Vila Velha, Fortaleza/CE : o território e o cotidiano vivido a partir da perspectiva dos moradores e dos profissionais do Programa Saúde da Família (PSF)

Abstract

This paper aims to study the mangrove community in the Vila Velha neighborhood, located in the extreme West of the City of Fortaleza/CE, from the point-of-view of the community dwellers selected as key-informants and from the health care professionals from the Family Health Program (FHP) from the João Medeiros Family Health Center, who are in charge of providing health care services to the community. This paper shall focus on the mangrove community of Vila Velha from three main “lenses”: firstly, the setting of the community located in a vast piece of land in an Environmental Protection Area (APA in Portuguese) amidst an Estuary belonging to the Ceará River, more precisely, on the right bank of the marine-fluvial embayment of the Ceará River, a body of water which divides the municipalities of Fortaleza and Caucaia. Thus, the community suffers with the risk of floods due to the varying tides of the river, mainly during the rainy season, which characterizes this area of study as one of the areas of highest risk in the City of Fortaleza. As part of the investigation, the community is considered to be part of the Vila Velha neighborhood, one of the most populated and problematic neighborhoods in Fortaleza due to the major lack of basic urban services throughout the neighborhood, such as solid waste collection, water supply and sewage disposal. The Vila Velha neighborhood has experienced, in recent years, an intensive process of people settling close to the flood plains of the Ceará River, where the community in question is located. Finally, a special focus is given to the mangrove community of Vila Velha which is comprised of micro-areas 068, 069, 070 and 071, micro-areas classified as having risk level 1 according to the Municipal Health Department of Fortaleza (SMS/PMF) therefore, considered to be a health care priority area belonging to the João Medeiros Family Health Center, a primary health care center which is responsible for the public health of Vila Velha. Thus, the mangrove community of Vila Velha is not only a territory where the family health teams operate, determined by the health territorialization process involved in the pragmatic action of the Family Health Program (PSF), but more so, from daily life experiences, locally, or as a place, connected to other realities such as the recent growth and urbanization of the City of Fortaleza and the socialenvironmental conflicts stemming from the occupation of extremely poor families, of a major part of the Environmental Protection Area (APA) in the Estuary of the Ceará River. In this paper, qualitative research methodology has been used, through the use of semi-structures interviews, in order to tap into the vision of the community dwellers, regarding their living and housing conditions, health and living conditions in an area of environmental protection; as well as the point-of-view of the health care professionals in terms of the living, housing and health conditions, as well as the territorialization process in health and in terms of environmental health public policies.