I Meeting of Integrative and Complementary Practices

Identifying professionals and students who practice and are interested in promoting health through Integrative and Complementary Practices (PICs) was the objective of the I Meeting of Integrative and Complementary Practices of Bahiana, held on November 1, at the Academic Unit Brotas.

Coordinated by professors Renata Roseghini, of Biomedicine and Mônica Oliveira, of Medicine, the meeting had as speakers Maria Luísa de Castro Almeida (Superintendence of Comprehensive Health Care), Ana Emília Andrade (SESAB) and Anamelia Lins (UFBA), who presented the current situation of integrative and complementary practices in teaching, within health institutions and in care provided by the SUS.

Reike, homeopathy, phytotherapy, color therapy, crystal therapy and acupuncture are some of the PICs that have recently been accepted by the SUS due to the National Policy on Integrative and Complementary Practices (PNPIC). 

According to the extension dean, Carolina Pedroza, the event inaugurated a series of meetings related to PICs, within the Bahiana. "The idea is to establish the integration between research, teaching and extension in courses in relation to PICs".

According to Professor Renata Roseghini, within the group of professors and students at Bahiana there were already people who worked or had contact with the PICs. "We identified ourselves, started to get together, recommend other people and came up with the idea of ​​holding a meeting to give body and strength to this movement within the institution".

For Ana Emília Andrade, currently in Bahia, the PICs are in a mapping phase for the construction of a state policy. "We have already come a long way, as we are already able to identify existing practices and their profile within the state of Bahia. We can have a policy that is identified with the culture and ancestry of Bahia, considering the populations and cultural wealth that we have". 

However, she points out as an obstacle the lack of funding for the progression of this work. "The great strategy we have is partnerships with training units and civil society. Bahiana it has contributed from a theoretical and philosophical construction to the elaboration of a policy. It can be integrated into the movement in the area of ​​research, in extension, taking research outside the institutional walls".

"It's a very special moment. It's not common for us to discuss this topic and these meetings at Bahiana they are innovative. For a teacher who follows this line of thought, it is possible to update and also be very encouraged. It is a great opportunity for us to make a bigger movement and create a network so that we can offer this aspect to students. Because health is not only medical, it is much more universal and integrative", reported the professor of the Nursing course at Bahiana and Integrative and Complementary Practices at the State University of Bahia, acupuncturist and meditation facilitator, Sandra Portella.