VULNERABILITY IN THE CHILD DEVELOPMENT: INFLUENCE OF PUBLIC POLICIES AND HEALTH PROGRAMS*

Introduction: vulnerability in child development can defined as the chance or opportunity to the child to suffer losses or delays in their development due to the influence of individual, social, and programmatic factors, which constitute adverse situations. Objective: to characterize the programmatic dimension of vulnerability in child development, according to the nurse at the Family Health Strategy Program. Methods: a qualitative exploratory study, conducted with nurses from units with the Family Health Strategy, in a city of the southern region of Brazil. Data collected by semi-structured interviews and analyzed according to the dialect hermeneutic and analytic matrix of the vulnerability of children in adverse situations for their development. Results: participants were 39 nurses, one from each health unit, who described budgetary, institutional, administrative and care factors that influence the process of health care and relate to the promotion of child development. Even acknowledging improvements in the current scenario of healthcare, they classified such factors as insufficient. Thus, the categories Fragilities in political-programmatic scenario and Gaps in the programmatic-assistance implementation, explain the vulnerability of the child health care in programmatic dimension, which characterizes a potentially injurious situation to the development. Conclusion: The nurses understand that the programmatic dimension of health care shows up as a significant cause of vulnerability in the development of the child