A leishmaniose visceral vista a partir da história oral: práticas culturais, desafios e processos de territorialização no município de Araguaína-TO

Abstract

Visceral Leishmaniasis has a historical record in Araguaína, Tocantins, with prevalence and constant record of cases over the years. Data from 2001 to 2017 from the Zoonosis Control Center (ZCC) demonstrated how this disease has been established over the years.This dissertation aims to understand the cultural practices and territorialization processes that contribute to the endemicity of Visceral Leishmaniasis (LV) in Araguaína-TO city.The research methodology used was oral history as amethod for collecting qualitative data. Two agents of endemic diseases were interviewed, a CCZ coordinator, two people who were affected by the disease and one who had the dog diagnosed with VL. Thus, and from the oral history reports presented by the sixinterviewees, the main social and historical-cultural factors were obtained as contributors to the prevalence of VL in Araguaína-TO.The main considerations are the interaction between cultural and territory factors as a theoretical variable that contributed to the problem in the endemic problem in the city; cultural customs and practices, both in the rejection of residents to visit agents and in the refusal to seek a collective solution to the problem, as well as in the belief that they will not be infected because they are already used to the disease; the existence of abandoned lots, illegal breeding grounds for pigeons and chickens and illegal dumping of garbage in these places, which allows the proliferation of vectors; and the need for more direct actions by the government in order to inform the population about the problem that is the VL in Araguaína-TO