[The impasses of unconditional poverty: the experience of Collective Ombudsman in the Leopoldina region, Rio de Janeiro (RJ, Brazil)].

The experience of Collective Ombudsman developed in the Leopoldina region, city of Rio de Janeiro, enlarges the traditional vision of health vigilance and consists in organizing a system of qualitative evaluation of the sanitary vigilance able to identify the health problems of the population and the methods utilized in the attempt to overcome these problems. Health professionals, religious and community leaders congregated in monthly forums to present and discuss living conditions perceived in the communities in which they carry on their activities. From the point of view of the social dimensions involved in the health-illness processes, this work aims to discuss the way that poverty compromises the popular classes' health, especially for the mental health and the "diffuse suffering".