Health decentralization and local power in Minas Gerais

Abstract

The positive association between decentralization strategy and democratization of the public sphere, through a great control by citizens, hardly happens in real experiences. In this way, this paper presents the main results of a research about the health decentralization process in view of local power structures, which took place in three towns of Minas Gerais (Brazil). The study took into account the interests and influences of individual and collective actors in the health decentralization process, who tend to mobilize towards defending themselves against, transforming or rejecting the proposaIs of change in the health sector. The political and administra tive features of the state of Minas Gerais influence the conditions of decentralization policies that find, at the local leveI, some particularities that cannot be unconsidered and which act on the deterrninants of the health decentralization process.