Health and education conditions in rural settlements in Brazil

Abstract

Settled families and rural workers face precarious living and working conditions that weaken their health and access to quality education. Health and education indicators are important parameters for planning and implementing public policies to improve these subjects' access to health and education. In light of this, this scoping review aimed at identifying the health and education conditions of families and workers living in rural settlements in Brazil. The SciELO, Scopus, and PubMed databases were searched. After the study screening process, thirty articles published between 1997 and 2021 were included in the review. The studies showed that families and settled workers are highly vulnerable in terms of health and education, with emphasis on the difficulty of accessing health services, leisure and physical activity, goods, and services such as transportation, basic sanitation, and income, as well as all levels of education, especially higher education. The main causes of the advances observed in the conditions of access to education were the constitution of rural education and the National Rural Education Program (Programa Nacional de Educação na Reforma Agrária [PRONERA]). The democratization of access to health and education services in rural settlements depends on public policies that focus on valuing the socioeconomic, cultural, and educational context of rural people. Therefore, interventions and public policies must aim at expanding access to health and education services in the settlements and promoting autonomy in the relations between work and production.