Panorama of health human resources in indigenous lands in the Legal Amazon

Abstract

The specificities of the indigenous health subsystem, particularly in the Legal Amazon, bring challenges to planning the provision of health professionals to work in indigenous territories, as there are still no standards and parameters that indicate what proportion is appropriate for indigenous areas. This article provides an unprecedented overview of the current situation of human resources working with Special Indigenous Health Districts (DSEIs) in the Legal Amazon. The data were obtained through the database registered in the Human Resources Management System of the Special Secretariat for Indigenous Health (SESAI). A descriptive analysis of human resources and infrastructure of primary care services for indigenous health was carried out. It was found that there is no standardization in the size of the workforce that works in indigenous health. It was not possible to identify whether such variations are related to the lack of a standard in the sizing of professionals, or whether they reflect the difficulty of retaining professionals in indigenous health, or even whether they are local adjustments to the profile of the territory. The difficulty in retaining professionals in indigenous health is multifactorial, and if associated with the lack of dimensioning of the workforce, it can generate care gaps.