Advances in Nursing Science Vol. 30, No. 4, pp. 343–352 Copyright c  2007 Wolters Kluwer Health | Lippincott Williams & Wilkins Practices in Community Health Toward Equity: Contributions of Brazilian Nursing Roseni R. Sena, DSc, RN; Clarissa T. Seixas, MN, RN; Kˆ enia L. Silva, MN, RN Although Brazil stands out as the eighth largest economy in the world, this country is burdened by huge social and economic inequalities. One of its greatest contemporary challenges is the construction of social policies, including healthcare, that seek to adjust social, economic, and cultural distortions. In the light of this scenario, Brazilian nursing has an important role in the defense of health with equity and quality of life, taking on a caring-based practice. However, to respond to these challenges in a propositional way, the nursing profession needs to reconsider its role and its purpose. Key words: Brazil, equity, forecasting, health-disease process, health inequalities, health and public policy, nursing care, nursing education, social inequity T HIS ARTICLE reflects the views of the authors who make up the Nucleus of Studies and Research on Education and Nurs- ing Practice (NUPEPE) of the School of Nurs- ing of the Federal University of Minas Gerais (UFMG), in Brazil, and it reflects their daily ex- periences in the practices of teaching, care, and knowledge production. It discusses prac- tices in community health, supported by life quality indicators of the Brazilian population, emphasizing nursing contributions toward so- cial justice. We present here the current situ- ation involving inequalities and inequities in health in Brazil and Latin America with regard to the economic aspects, access to and distri- bution of health services, as well as the sce- nario of education of health professionals. We propose the methodology of future scenarios building as a means of managing problems of social inequality, and we promote the contri- bution of nursing in maintenance of health Author Affiliation: School of Nursing, Federal University of Minas Gerais, Minas Gerais, Brazil. Corresponding Author: Clarissa T. Seixas, MN, RN, 37, Rue Vandrezanne 75013 Paris, France (claseixas@ yahoo.com.br). with equity and quality of life, taking on a caring-based practice. SOCIAL INEQUALITIES AND INEQUITIES IN LATIN AMERICA AND BRAZIL When discussing social equity, it becomes necessary to consider the context in which inequity takes place, as well as its causes and determinants. In Latin America, the data of Gross Internal Product (GIP) have been used as indicators of the inequality that exists among the region’s population groups, which has arisen from policies that privilege the pro- duction and unequal distribution of wealth. Such policies have important repercussions for less privileged populations. We analyzed the categories of equality and inequality, considering them to be notions that are always relative of the general condi- tions of production and reproduction of a de- termined population. 1 The relativity of these concepts can be exemplified by Brazil’s sit- uation, as the eighth largest economy in the world, with a GIP of 1 803 917 million in- ternational dollars, 2 yet burdened with con- siderable social and economic inequalities, 343