THE PERCEPTION OF INDIGENOUS HEALTH PUBLIC POLICIES AND THE HEALTH-DISEASE RELATIONSHIP BY THE KAINGANG INDIGENOUS OF THE FOXÁ INDIGENOUS LAND DURING THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC

Abstract

This study aims to address the way in which the Kaingang Indians from the Foxá Indigenous Territory, in the municipality of Lajeado (RS), perceive Brazilian public policies on indigenous health and the health-disease relationship during the pandemic period. The research methodology used the ethno-historical approach and the interdisciplinary character in the treatment of data from the Kaingang indigenous people. The research techniques were qualitative, descriptive in nature, using a literature review built from documentary and oral sources on indigenous health. Bibliographic, documentary and oral history research were also adopted, as well as field diaries and interviews in loco, dealing with the Kaingang indigenous people. The main results showed that despite the Brazilian legislation guaranteeing to indigenous peoples differentiated care, with respect to cultural-religious diversity, the acceptance of the demands of the investigated Kaingang indigenous peoples is not very effective, since health professionals tend not to understand the perspective in the health-disease relationship, which is more complex in times of pandemic. It was found that for the Kaingang of the Foxá Indigenous Territory, the health-disease relationship is linked to the (partial) break between man and nature, including its cycles. In view of this, public health policies do not adequately contemplate aspects of nature in the same way as in the indigenous conception, distancing both cultures.