Ribeirinhas midwives of Calama – Porto Velho/RO and VEPOP-SUS: The meeting of knowledge

Abstract

This paper considers some reflections about the meeting among Scientific Knowledge and popular knowledgeconstructed by social actors, in this specific case, constructed by Amazonian Ribeirinhas Midwives. This activity has been developed like parto of Calama Project: Ribeirinhos of Madeira River. Calama is a RiverDistrict of Porto Velho/RO. People just can travel to this community by boats, because it is located 200 kmof Porto Velho city. The time of traveling is about nine hours down the river, and about eighteen hours goingup Madeira river. The activities were developed through a workshop with the midwives. The meetings weredeveloped among 10 trips, once a month, on the weekends, with eight hours for each workshop/trip, about80 hours of activity. A nurse of Family´s Health Program also participated in this training, supporting thecases indicated by midwives. As a result of these workshops, the midwives started to inform pregnant womenand their families about the importance of Prenatal, the register of the newborn, sterilization of multiparaand/or “filhentas” women, the authority and efficiency of the institutions (UBS, hospital, registry, etc). Thiswork also contributed to the enlargement of prenatal in that district. Besides, it showed a harmonization inthe relationship between nurses and midwives.