HIV/AIDS activism and the Unified Health System in Belém, Brazil, 1990-2003.

Abstract

The paper analyses, in historical perspective, the role of social organizations in combat against Aids as how it takes part in the process of institutional construction of the Sistema Único de Saúde (SUS) in the state of Pará, Brazil. Emphasizing the prominence of the group Paravidda, it discusses the demands for organization of hospital care from of SUS's regulations in 1990 until 2003, when there was a restructuration of healthcare in region. It is concluded that Paravidda has become a prominent actor in regional implementation of SUS, meaning that organized civil society played a key role in the process of health reform and institutional construction of the SUS.