The National Integrated System of Care in Uruguay: Equitable access for citizenship as a universal right?

Abstract

To understand the Integrated National System of Care (Sistema Nacional Integrado de Cuidados - SNIC) that is currently being built in Uruguay, it is essential to introduce some basic concepts: gender, construction of citizenship as well as the universal rights of the citizens to be cared for. Today, the debates on citizenship continue to present a field of tension between a conception of universal citizenship and one of differentiated citizenship, based on the recognition of the existence of antagonisms not derived from the production process, such as gender, but from social processes historically installed in cultures. This article presents a brief description of the care policies in Uruguay where - from the institutional discourse – there is recognition of the social value of care, the co-responsibility among families, State, community and market as well as the consecration of the fourth pillar of well-being as a non-traditional component of social policies. The question that arises then is whether the care policy is achieving equitable access to those who are subjects of rights in their capacity as citizens. And here it is interesting to make some appreciations that in our opinion could be providing elements towards a plausible response. Does the SNIC manage to put in question this social-productive crisis placing the issue of care as a universal human right from a gender perspective as a central issue?