The insertion of the violence against elderly theme at health care public policies in Brazil

This article approaches the insertion of violence against elderly in the Brazilian health care public policies. It presents concepts of violence applied to this group of population, mortality data and number of elder interned by violence and accidents. Also, it compares and discusses some policies that are, direct or indirectly, about elder care, victims of violence, and the specific object of the text. Methodologically, it first aimed to identify if the theme of violence was contemplated in official documents, and if so, which are the guidelines that orient elder care, not only regarding attendance, but also regarding prevention actions. The conclusions are that official policies, with special emphasis to the Elder Statute and the National Policy to Elder Care, are very slowly incorporating this theme and offering support to the Protection Network, mainly in this first decade of the 21(st) century.