GEOGRAPHY OF HEALTH AND BASIC SANITATION IN BAIXADA FLUMINENSE:

SÃO JOÃO DE MERITI'S CONTEXT

Abstract

This text is supported, with modifications, in the monograph entitled "Geography of Health and basic Sanitation in Baixada Fluminense: Analysis in São João de Meriti" (2019). Through Geography of Health, area focused on understanding the population's health problems, understanding that diseases proliferate in different ways in different contexts and that every geographic space has a history of ecological, biological and, in short, social, we seek a context of some health problems in São João de Meriti, Rio de Janeiro, which involve waterborne diseases. The city, known as the "America's Anthill" for its demographic density of 13,000 inhabitants per km², doesn't have universal basic sanitation and its sewage network does not serve 50% of its area. Thus, there is a need for studies about sanitation in the city and in the territory in which it is inserted, the Baixada Fluminense. The bibliographic survey becomes important not only for the development of a history of sanitation works in the Baixada Fluminense but also for the conceptualization of its own meaning, since this territory has several definitions depending on the object and time scale in which it is being represented. This work has as main objective to correlate basic sanitation with the history of occupation of the municipality, investigating sanitation works that have already done, searching for data on diseases related to lack of sanitation and correlating them in order to create a panorama for future interested readers about health promotion in this municipality and the territory in which it is inserted. Based on these surveys, this research was restricted to data related to the municipality of São João de Meriti - RJ, among them the current sewage network in the municipality, population, growth rate, demographic density as well as health indicators related to the lack of sanitation. and areas in the city liable to flooding.