“In the middle of the crossfire”: Considerations about the armed violence impacts in Primary Health Care in the city of Rio de Janeiro

Abstract

The paper addresses the impacts of armed violence, based on Primary Health Care, in a neighborhood in the city of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. This is a qualitative exploratory study developed in two services aiming to identify the main types of violence, their impacts and the strategies used to cope with the phenomenon. The production of information included data collection in the service records, conducting semi-structured interviews, focus groups and feedback seminar. Armed vio-lence, among all expressions of violence, was identified as one of the major concerns of healthcare professionals and users of services, due to its inten-se occurrence and the severity of its consequences on health. Its impact on strategies to cope with the violence and the difficulty in making the phenomenon visible are highlighted. It is considered that this type of violence, prevalent in the black territories of the city, is legitimized by structural racism, being the public security policy – based on the ideal of war on drugs and on the military confrontation with armed groups that operate in the retail trade of illicit drugs – expressions of state racism and necropolitics.