Humanized and Comprehensive Care in the Brazilian Unified Health System: Principles, Challenges, and Perspectives for Health Promotion

Vollständiger Abstract

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Humanized and comprehensive care represents an essential dimension of the Brazilian Unified Health System (SUS), particularly because healthcare involves not only biological conditions but also emotional, social, cultural, family, and territorial dimensions. Humanization requires recognizing users as subjects with rights, autonomy, preferences, and individual experiences, while comprehensiveness requires integrating health promotion, disease prevention, diagnosis, treatment, rehabilitation, palliative care, and health surveillance. This academic essay discusses humanized and comprehensive care within SUS, emphasizing its principles, organizational challenges, and perspectives for health promotion. The discussion addresses welcoming practices, active listening, autonomy, communication, equity, interprofessional work, Primary Health Care, healthcare networks, continuity of care, social participation, working conditions, technological transformation, and the importance of addressing social determinants of health. Humanized care cannot be restricted to interpersonal attitudes because the conditions under which healthcare professionals work and services are organized directly influence the quality of relationships established with users. Strengthening humanization therefore requires structural, managerial, ethical, and relational changes capable of placing people and communities at the centre of healthcare while preserving universality, comprehensiveness, equity, and the right to health.