O SUS E A SAÚDE SEXUAL E REPRODUTIVA DE ADOLESCENTES E JOVENS NO BRASIL

SUS PRINCIPLES The Unified Health System (SUS) is a State policy comprised of bringing together in one system all health actions and services offered by federal, state and municipal direct and indirect administration institutions and bodies, as well as government maintained foundations. Complementary health services offered by outsourced private companies are also part of this policy.

This articulation is organized based on overriding principles and strategic principles.

The three overriding SUS principles are: Universality – Recognizes health as a “right of all citizens and a duty of the State”. This is a constitutional principle, derived from Article 196 of the Federal Constitution (Brasil, 1988).

Integrality − Guarantees that health service users receive comprehensive care covering promotion, prevention, treatment and rehabilitation actions, with guaranteed access to all the Health System’s levels of complexity.

Integrality also presupposes care focused on the individual, the family and the community (social inclusion) rather than care focused on a range of actions or illnesses (Brasil, 2009, p. 192).

Equity − SUS is bound to provide resources and services in a fair manner, in accordance with each person’s needs. The kind of care provided is determined by the complexity of each service user’s health problem. This implies the implementation of mechanisms to induce policies or programmes for populations facing unequal health conditions, by means of dialogue between the government and civil society, involving members of the various Ministry of Health (MoH) bodies and sectors, researchers and social movement leaders.

It aims to achieve the availability of differentiated actions for groups with special needs. Health equity promotion committees and working groups are coordinated by the Ministry’s Secretariat for Participative Management, which guides actions for the following situations of social exclusion: rural population, Black population, Gypsy population and groups with specific sexual orientation SUS requirements (lesbian women, gay men, bisexual and transgender persons – LGBT) (Brasil, 2009, p. 138).