ANALYSIS OF EMIGRANT FINANCING INFLUENCE ON HEALTH PRIVATE MARKET IN GOVERNADOR VALADARES, MINAS GERAIS, BRAZIL

Abstract

The resources that the emigrant acquires with his/her work in foreign lands seem to provide a significant demand for private health services in Governador Valadares. The contingent of emigrant financial backers is formed by the seasonal emigrant, that is, the residents outside the country who periodically visit Valadares, those who return after a period of immigration, and relatives who host remittances of residents abroad. The dynamism of activities in the local health private sector seems to reinforce this hypothesis. Aiming at exploring the relations between the emigrant’s financing and the dynamics of opening private services in the city, we carried out the following procedures: sixteen interviews with health professionals who live and work in Valadares; queries in the National Register of Health Establishments and Brazilian Geography and Statistics Institute databases; and a documental research, by means of data collection in the municipal health surveillance sector. Such data was compared to net current unilateral transfers for Brazil in the period of 1981 to 2007. The analysis of the documental research on the opening of private health facilities have revealed a relationship between the emigrants´ demand and an increase in the opening of private health facilities as of the second half of the 90´s. In the continuity of this present research we shall carry out interviews with the emigrants and their dependents that live in Valadares, aiming at characterizing the demand for health services influenced by the emigrant’s resources.