ACCESS TO HEALTH SERVICES FOR PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES IN BRAZIL: AN INTEGRATIVE REVIEW

Abstract

Although the National Health Policy for Persons with Disabilities was implemented more than two decades ago, there are still significant barriers to access to health services for this population. Thus, the objective of this article is to describe the barriers to access to health services for people with disabilities. This is an integrative literature review carried out with articles published between 2008 and 2023, through the LILACS and PubMed databases, covering Portuguese and English. Abstracts published in journals or event proceedings, repeated articles, theses/dissertations, reviews, and books were excluded, totaling seven articles included. The selection of studies was first carried out by a single reviewer and the doubts were resolved by the other authors. To characterize the articles, the following information was extracted: author, year, objectives and results/conclusion. The technique of Discursive Textual Analysis was used to present the results. The barriers to access to health services were classified as: products and technologies, attitudinal barriers and services, system and policies. It was evidenced that despite the existence of policies aimed at people with disabilities, most of this population still faces many barriers to ensure a dignified life, which is further aggravated in the presence of intersectionality, especially the poorest population and women. Therefore, it is necessary to review public policies, adequately allocating resources to cover everything from infrastructure adaptations to raising awareness in society and training health professionals.