Participative analysis of the health situation in the department of Ancasti, province of Catamarca

Abstract

The heterogeneity from the political, cultural, productive, geographical, and population points of view of Ancasti Department, Province of Catamarca, is a warning sign regarding the articulation of the health system of the province with the rural area. As a result, the starting point of this work was to describe the health situation of Ancasti Department in relation to the local population opinion about health/disease/service and the management capacity of local effectors. The research described associates the opinion of local users of health services in a rural area of Catamarca with the management capacity of their own health system. To develop this investigation, theoretical frameworks characterizing the rural territory as a whole were considered; thus, a cross section descriptive study was done throughout 2009 which included population and effectors through the variables “services offered” “services requested”.