"Adianta mais que remédio": faces da medicina popular na fronteira de Ponta Porã (BR) e Pedro Juan Caballero (PY)

This article discusses the relations established by Pontaporanense and Pedrojuaninos, residents of neighboring cities on the border between Brazil and Paraguay, with knowledge and practices of popular medicine and the way they elaborate the binomials health / disease and trust / distrust regarding the promoting well-being in daily life. The objective is to understand how these populations deal with the promotion of health and general well-being through therapeutic habits of prevention and cure that precede, delay or exempt the need for access to official medicine. The research was based on field surveys, of ethnographic orientation, with the use of observation techniques and application of structured and free interviews.