To strengthen the exercise of social control in health politics, it is really necessary to know the Unified Health System; the legislation; the epidemiological reality, assistance, financial, political, and so on. In this sense, this paper aims to analyze the level of information and knowledge of the Municipal Health Counselors in the city of Viçosa, Minas Gerais State, concerning their attributions and functions. The elements of analysis of the study were semi-structured interviews conducted from April to July 2006, and the direct observation of meetings. From 44 counselors, 34 (77.3%) were interviewed, 17 (50%) are users' representatives; eight (23.5%) are representatives of the municipal government; seven (20.6%) are representatives of the service; and two (5.9%) are representatives of health professionals. It can be noticed that 41.2% of counselors ignore the Internal Regiment, what could hinder the fulfillment of their competences. The health plan is not used for evaluation of health actions and services for the counselors, because most of them (73.5%) declared not having read it. The possibility of counselors helping supervise the financial and budgetary executions of the Municipal Health Fund restrains it, since 67.6% of the interviewees cannot analyze the administration report; 79.4% of the counselors never received training and 85% told need being qualified to act in the council. Participation and social control provide transparence to the public good and, based on the premise that one can only control what one knows, the need of continuing training courses for counselors is confirmed.
Municipal Council of Health; Counselors of Health; Training; Social Participation; Social Control
