Saúde ambiental no Brasil: uma análise regional, temporal e das macrotendências científicas no CINASAMA

Abstract

This work is the result of a personal and academic concern: How does scientific production in our country address environmental health? By examining the CINASAMA proceedings from their inception to the last year of publications (2012 - 2024), I sought to reflect on which trends dominate this debate and how they may or may not reflect Brazil's socio-environmental challenges. This research is based on the assumption that human health and ecological balance are inseparable, but does our research keep up with this complexity? Objectively, we sought to map the thematic macrotrends (hygienist, ecological, and critical-political-social) in the studies published in the proceedings of the scientific event. Specifically, I investigated the numerical expressiveness of each approach, which Brazilian regions are most abundant, and possible gaps in these works for the biological sciences. Furthermore, a special focus was given to the disconnection between academia and communities affected by environmental problems. Twenty-eight papers published in the CINASAMA proceedings were selected for our study, based on thematic (environmental health) and temporal (2012-2024) criteria, from a universe of over 5,000 researched papers found on the event's website. The analysis combined the debate between the categorization of macrotrends according to Layrargues and Lima, 2014, from a qualitative point of view, added to the quantitative approach, with regard to counting by year and region. By using Bardin's (2016) content analysis, it was possible to identify patterns in the textual data, cross-referencing information on themes, regional contexts and possible silences in academic production. The data resulted in some interesting findings: Initially, we have a strong dominance of the hygienist approach (35.7% of the papers), focused on technical solutions, to the detriment of critical analyses on inequalities (21.5%); Furthermore, there is a regional hyperconcentration of studies conducted in and for the Northeast, totaling 89.2% of the sample analyzed, with a marked absence of research related to environmental health in the North and South regions of the country. In addition, the peak of publications was identified in 2019, coinciding with the water crisis experienced in the country, although the COVID-19 pandemic has exposed weaknesses in the continuity of research. When we look at the results, we can see that despite the gross volume of research present at this scientific event being large, few of them effectively address the theme of environmental health, in addition to a limited incorporation of community knowledge and a predominance of superficial analyses of structural problems. This study suggests that there should be a stimulus in academia for the production of interdisciplinary scientific knowledge, more engaged and willing to address the roots of socio-environmental injustices. And it reinforces the role of scientists as mediators between technical knowledge and social transformation, remembering that environmental health is built with ears attentive to the territories and hands willing to change realities.