Access to health and social protection policies by homeless people during the COVID-19 pandemic: a mixed-methods case study on tailored inter-sector care during a health emergency.

Introduction: The article analyzed homeless people's (HP) access to health and social protection policies and tailored inter-sector care, including emergency measures, during the COVID-19 pandemic in Belo Horizonte (BH), capital of Minas Gerais state, Brazil. It intended to provide data on HP and evaluate existing public policies focused on vulnerable populations during this health emergency. Methods: The study adopted a mixed-methods design with triangulation of quantitative and qualitative data. Results: Social cartography showed that in the early months of the pandemic, the health administration had difficulty reordering the health system, which experienced constant updates in the protocols but was nevertheless consolidated over the months. The evidence collected in the study showed that important emergency interventions in the municipality of BH involved activities that facilitated access by HP to the supply of services. Discussion: The existence of national guidelines for inter-sector care for HP cannot be ruled out as a positive influence, although the municipalities are responsible for their implementation. Significantly, a health emergency was necessary to intensify the relationship between health and social protection services. Roving services were among those with the greatest positive evidence, with the least need for infrastructure to be replicated at the local level. In addition, the temporary supply of various inter-sector services, simultaneously with the provision of day shelters by organized civil society, was considered a key factor for expanding and intensifying networks of care for HP during the emergency phase. A plan exists to continue and expand this model in the future. The study concluded that understanding the inter-sector variables that impact HP contributes to better targeting of investments in interventions that work at the root causes of these issues or that increase the effectiveness of health and social protection systems.

O cuidado em saúde e a extensão universitária referenciados na educação popular: uma história de convivência com a realidade do campo / Health care and university extension inspired in popular education: a story of coexistence with the rural reality

Este relato de experiência conta a história de um projeto de extensão que envolveu o encontro entre profissionais da saúde em formação (residentes em saúde) e famílias camponesas de um assentamento do Movimento dos Trabalhadores Rurais Sem Terra, no município de Moreno/ PE, de julho de 2012 a agosto de 2013. Por meio dessa vivência, referenciada na Educação Popular, foi possível experienciarmos a construção coletiva de outras perspectivas do cuidado, da educação e da formação em saúde, possibilitando o intercâmbio de saberes com a população do campo e os movimentos sociais, fortalecendo a autonomia, a participação social e o cuidado em saúde com base nos conhecimentos populares.

This experience report tells the story about a university extension project that involved the gathering of health professionals in training (residents in the health area) and peasant families of the Landless Rural Workers' Movement, in the municipality of Moreno, Pernambuco, Brazil. Through this project inspired in Popular Education it was possible to experience the collective construction of other perspectives of health care, education, and training, allowing for an exchange of knowledge with the rural population and social movements, strengthening their autonomy, social participation, and health care based on popular knowledge.