Saúde, campesinato e os animais : uma análise sobre as criações de ruminantes em assentamentos rurais no estado de Pernambuco na perspectiva da epidemiologia crítica

Abstract

Ruminant raising in Brazil is mainly composed of family farming. Bovine farming has an important number of facilities whereas in goat farming most of, both facilities and herds belong to Family farming and peasant agriculture. The objective of the study was to establish a relation between animal health and the social dimension, in the sense of knowing the epidemiological health profile of the farms, involving not only the animals, but the peasants (farmers) and their territories, according to the Social Determinants of Health, with Critical Epidemiology as its central theoretical and methodological contribution. Thus, the objective was to carry out an epidemiological study of descriptive nature on ruminant farming in rural settlements in Pernambuco state. The research was carried out in five rural settlements: Mato Grosso, Jardim, Serra Grande, Chico Mendes III and Concórdia e Santa Cruz. The descriptive analysis was developed using the instruments of data collection: structured interview, participatory rural appraisal and participant observation. The proposal for the University Extension Activities Plan was developed based on the concept of Popular University Extension and the Participatory Surveillance strategy. Among the main results, it was found that the majority of the interviewees were male (76.6%), with an average age of 52.3 years old, low education levels and the prevalent family income was one to three minimum wages in 91.4% of cases. The presence of a school was reported in three settlements, in all of which poor infrastructure conditions and scarcity of public policies were described. The bovine species was the most present in the farms, having fattening as the main purpose. The farming system mainly used was semi-extensive (82.9%) and the mainly mentioned diseases in bovines were: worm and tick infestation (91.5%), whereas in goats and sheep were worm infestations (85.3 %) and omphalitis (58.3%). The two main reasons for animal raising were affection for the animals and the income, bovines having a very important economic significance. As for work and health aspects, the peasants showed that the routine of activities with animals was characterized as an arduous process, with difficulties in the use of PPE and CPE, resulting in an ergonomic, chemical, physical and biological workload, with reports of accidents and absence from activities. There were also aspects of difficulty in accessing health services that contributed to the occurrence of chronic and osteoarticular diseases, hypertension, diabetes, as infectious and parasitic diseases, such as schistosomiasis and leishmaniasis. The proposed University Extension Activities Plan culminates as a social proposal for university extension to intervene in real situations of the working class. The Plan was constituted based on popular conceptions of education and health, and incorporated aspects of Agroecology and Ethnoveterinary, on the sustainability and valorization of popular practices and knowledge, and of One Health, with regard to the intersectoriality of public policies. The infrastructure of rural settlements, productive and sanitary management, the relationship between settlers and cattle, and aspects of work and health were precarious. Thus, it is suggested that such conditions in ruminant farming in rural settlements are part of a total, resulting from a model of society based on the capitalist mode of production, being a historical and structural consequence of the agrarian issue in the country, thus showing the social determinants in the health-disease process in animal and human populations.