COMPLEMENTARY HEALTH-CARE MODELS - A NEGL ECTED COMPONENT IN THE HEALTH-CARE SYSTEMS REFORM

Complementary health care models represent a neglected and scarcely st udied area of the health services structure. Within them a myriad of m edical therapies of various origins are included. Lately, their import ance has grown by means of the increase in demand for such services, b oth in industrialized and developing countries. II is urgent to reinfo rce research in the area aiming at understanding the processes through which the population demands these services and the processes through which complementary practitioners are able to maintain their-presence in a market environment where the forces of supply and demand are sig nificant. The context created by the health services reform should be used to review the therapeutic value of these models, to promote its r egulation and to amplify the availability of therapeutic options for t he population.