Entre o silêncio e a política pública: a luta do movimento social MORHAN Amazonas na efetivação da política pública de saúde para as pessoas atingidas pela hanseníase no contexto amazônico

Abstract

Leprosy, formerly known as Hansen's disease, is one of the oldest diseases known to humankind. In contemporary times, the disease constitutes a public health problem in Brazil, both due to its endemicity and its disabling power. This research aimed to analyze the mechanisms and strategies of action of MORHAN Amazonas in strengthening the struggle to guarantee the right of access for people affected by Hansen's disease to public health policy in the Amazonian context. To achieve this, we used bibliographic, documentary, and field research in our methodological approach. The field research was conducted with eight participants subdivided into two groups: activists from the MORHAN social movement and people affected by Hansen's disease who were segregated in the hospital-colony. The interview technique was used, with the application of a questionnaire, in order to obtain reliable accounts from the participants. The documentary research was based on documents from the National MORHAN (Statute, 70 editions of the MORHAN Journal, number of volunteers and centers) and the MORHAN Amazonas (statute, minutes, social networks, official letters, reports). Among the results found, we highlight the contribution of the MORHAN Social Movement in the struggle for the legitimization and visibility of people affected by leprosy, not only nationally and locally, but also with recognition and partnerships with international institutions. We highlight MORHAN's activism in its trajectory to overturn laws that persisted in society, as well as discriminatory attitudes that curtailed the rights of people affected by leprosy, such as the non-acceptance of hospitals outside the colonies, the law on the use of public transport, the electoral law, the change in terminology, and the achievement of state and federal pensions. We point out the efforts to eliminate leprosy in the country from a health perspective. However, we conclude that this confrontation tends to go further, encompassing its conditioning and determining factors that are stipulated in Law 8.080/90, in its article 3: "food, housing, basic sanitation, the environment, work, income, education, physical activity, transport, leisure and access to essential goods and services" (Brazil, 1990). Finally, policies to combat leprosy require a networked, systemic, and coordinated approach across all public policies, so that individuals affected by the disease are viewed holistically within society.