Prevention and control of oral cancer: contribution of the Bipartite Inter-Managers Commission in the state of Rio de Janeiro

ABSTRACT Expanding access to oral cancer prevention and control requires constructing an inter-municipal care network. The Bipartite Intermanagement Commission (CIB) plays a central role in this process. This study aims to analyze, from the perspective of the Structuring Theory, the participation of the CIB in structuring oral cancer prevention and control actions within the scope of the Unified Health System, in the state of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. This exploratory case study analyzes documents from the CIB of Rio de Janeiro between 1996 and 2019. Data collection and extraction took place in the first quarter of 2020. Two researchers individually analyzed the content of 739 documents in the categories: Constitution of the health network; Financing of health actions; Professional qualification in health. Discussions at the CIB proved to be limited, due to the more municipal and less regionalized characteristics adopted by the state for oral health. Access to treatment gave rise to debates that contributed to the expansion of the hospital network and the reorganization of regulation, even if limited. This formal space for inter-manager negotiation and decision-making has become a merely informative or pro forma deliberative space, which brings limitations to the structuring of regional actions for the prevention and control of oral cancer in the state of Rio de Janeiro.