Promotion of Healthy and Adequate Food in a rural territory: pathways to reflection and praxis with Community Health Workers

Abstract

Ensuring adequate and healthy food is one of the human rights necessary to promote health.
Inequalities in the distribution of resources and difficulties in accessing public policies result in worse living
conditions for rural populations, where food and nutritional insecurity is more prevalent than in urban
centers. Thus, rural family health teams face different challenges in the work process, with Community
Health Workers (CHWs) being key professionals in ensuring access to the service. This paper presents the
theoretical-methodological path of Culture Circles with four CHWs from the countryside in the Federal
District and the perceptions of these professionals about adequate and healthy eating through the lens of
discourse analysis. Over the course of two meetings, it was possible to reflect on all dimensions covered by the theoretical framework, except ethnicity/race, in addition to raising awareness about power relations in the
territory. Through popular education, the transformation of reality is envisioned with collective actions to improve access to healthy food in the territory. The Culture Circles proved to be a powerful way for building knowledge combined with a critical look at social determination in the territory.