Family Health Strategy and popular health practices: dialogs between live networks in a territory in the city of Manaus, AM, Brazil

Traditional healing practices emerge in people’s daily lives in different forms: massages, teas, prayers, and practices known in the region as “puxação” and “garrafadas”. This study aimed to promote an interaction between the Family Health Strategy and the popular care that occurs in a community in the city of Manaus, Northern Brazil. It is an ethnographic research with reports provided by four popular caregivers identified by the community agents of the Family Health Strategy territory. The caregivers narrated their experiences, their initiation in the care practice and their “specialties” in this process. Some caregivers developed childbirth activities through the technique of “pegar menino” and “puxar barriga” (catching the boy and pulling the belly), while other caregivers only prayed. During the study, the health team gradually developed dialog strategies with the community and the popular caregivers, in order to overcome prejudices that hinder the intercultural dialog and a collaborative relationship in the care provided for people in the territory.