“Só se eu estiver morrendo”: percepções de adolescentes acerca do acesso à Atenção Primária à Saúde

Abstract

The purpose of this descriptive study is to listen to adolescents' perceptions about access to Primary Health Care. Data show that this public's demand for these services progresses at a slow pace, while self-assessment of their own health status seems to worsen. Still, reflections on access as a mere presence in Basic Health Units seem not to be sufficient to cover the problem. For this reason, elements about the territory and the violence that crosses it are included in the debate, since its effects are the main cause of death due to external factors in this life cycle. The adolescents' perceptions were collected in territories of the nine regions of the city of Belo Horizonte through the methodology of inventive groups. Their speeches about health, public policies, violence, territory and whatever they most wanted to share were recorded, and the material produced was categorized by themes and treated using Content Analysis. The conclusion points out distances, obstacles and paths constructed by adolescents in relation to PHC. The repercussions of the different types of violence, which occur interspersed with the tensions present in the territories, the lack of legitimacy attributed to adolescence and racism as a transversal violence stand out, while the articulation with other public policies presents itself as a way of rapprochement.