ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH SURVEILLANCE IN THE MUNICIPALITY OF CHAPECO-SC: CHALLENGES AND ADVANCES

Environmental Health Surveillance (EHS) acts in a set of actions that lead to knowledge, detection or prevention of any change in the determining and conditioning factors of the environment that step in human health. Objective: to analyze the contributions and challenges of EHS, for the prevention of diseases and health promotion, from the perspective of managers and employees of Chapeco (SC). Method: qualitative study, having interviews with professionals whose manifestations were analyzed according to the guidelines of the thematic content analysis. Results: As contributions from EHS, health education was indicated, which represents a multidisciplinary strategy, which is highlighted by the participants as a reference for Santa Catarina, collaborating with health promotion actions, developed through agent to combat endemics diseases (ACE) that work as actors of dialogue between the community and the service. Still, it is the relevance of the planning and actions in which the service was structured and took shape and notoriety in the municipality. The challenges identified are the population's resistance to receiving the ACE, the lack of communication and health information, as well as the predominance of a sectorial culture without the proper dialogue between the services that make up health surveillance. Conclusion: The EHS of Chapeco was structured based on the current public health policies and has actions guided by systematic planning and acts fundamentally in education, health promotion and disease prevention. However, it faces important challenges, among them, there can be highlighted the integration in the health network, lack of financing and identity as a service