O processo de mercantilização das cesarianas no Brasil.

Abstract

The cesarean section is the most performed surgical procedure in the world, in Brazil reached worrying rates in public and private sectors. This public health problem has been constantly discussed since the 1960s, becoming an important issue published in the Brazilian press. Several actions were taken by the authorities responsible for care policies to discourage this procedure. However, none of them obtained the expected result, taking the various actors to different opinions on the reasons causing this problem. In this perspective, the general objective of this study was to understand the development and market interests influence in the high rates of cesarean sections in Brazil. The specific objective is analyze the development of delivery care in Brazil, with emphasis on the period between 1960 and 1990, when it gave the large increase in the proportion of caesareans; and analyze the transformation of cesarean section in goods and private interests involved in services relating thereto. To achieve the goal, a documentary research was carried out using, as main source, publications about cesarean section found in the archives of the newspapers O Globo e Folha de São Paulo. In this aspect, this study makes a historical narrative of the process of commodification of cesarean section in the country, based mainly on material published by the media, and a synthesis of historical elements that led to a transformation of cesarean section, which was initially a family, human and natural act, for a highly profitable market product.