Overview of Consultations of Acupuncture in the Unified Health System of Brazil

INTRODUCTION. In recent years, the practice of acupuncture has been widespread throughout the country, especially after 2006, when it was published the National Policy on Integrative and Complementary in the Unified Health System (SUS). According to the insert diagnosis of Natural Medicine and Complementary Practices in SUS and data from SIA / SUS, it was observed that acupuncture is present in 19 states, distributed in 107 municipalities and 17 capitals. This study aims to elucidate the practice of acupuncture in SUS in Brazil. METHODOLOGY. This is an exploratory, descriptive and retrospective evaluation of secondary data. Data collection was through the Outpatient Information System SUS recorded between the years 2008 and 2010, obtained through the database of the Ministry of Health (DATASUS) and the National Registry of Health, both in the public domain. RESULTS. We observed an increase in attendance of 106.96% over the period 2008 to 2010. The number of municipalities that joined the practice of acupuncture in SUS rose 64.13% in this period of two years. It also showed the highest rates in southern and northern Brazil, compared with other regions, an increase of 1512.27% and 389.50%, respectively. CONCLUSION. After the increase of public policies for the integration of complementary and alternative practices we observed a significant increase in the number of visits of acupuncture in the Unified Health System of Brazil. Thus, it is believed that the risk is relatively low and with its promising potential, this strategy can be an alternative to the process of "demedicalization" in the SUS.