Universidade e organizações religiosas para a produção de produtos fitoterápicos em momentos de pandemia no Oeste do Pará: um relato de experiência

Abstract

In the period of the COVID-19 pandemic, phytotherapy, as an alternative practice, became the focus of collaboration between the University and the Religious Institutions, aimed at reducing the mild anxiety symptoms, stress and insomnia that affected several people during this period. In that regard, the work aims to report and analyze the experience of building a work plan between the University and two Religious Institutions for the production of herbal products in a University Pharmacy for some communities belonging to Santarem city. It is a descriptive study, with the profile of an experience report involving three entities: Federal University of Western Pará; Institution Cáritas from the Archdiocese of Santarém and Franciscan Sisters of Maristella do Brasil, in the period from september of 2020 to December of 2022 in the city of Santarém-PA. The work plan division consisted in assigning responsibility to the University for the acquisition, storage and distribution of herbal medicines, according to the organization of municipal pharmaceutical assistance services, through human resources and technological infrastructure, in order to dialogue with the health units to make the service feasible to the communities to be served. And regarding to Caritas and the Franciscan Sisters of Maristella, they were in charge of the financial resources for the production process; this followed RDC n.º 18/2013, which describes all the requirements for the preparation of herbal medicines to be dispensed within the scope of SUS, as well as provides for initial and continuous training for those involved in the manipulation process. In view of this, the experience in building the partnership between the University and the Church was essential, as this cooperation contributed to the progress of the process, enabling the expansion of pharmaceutical care in the post-pandemic communities.