[Rev.Indexada en DOAJ]The purpose of the investigation is to understand the ways in which the families residing in the El Trigal settlement understand and treat respiratory diseases, in a context where Respiratory System Diseases increased 58 % between 2001 and 2015.Here we present the results of an ethnographic research conducted between the years 2013 and 2015 in the city of Posadas, Misiones Argentina. We have grouped the ailments according to ?severity?: the less serious ailments are allergies, colds, flu and tonsilitis, whereas the more serious (owing to their symptoms and the therapy they will require) are bronchospasm, pneumonia and asthma. All interviewees said that these ailments were caused by poor environmental living conditions and some practices that could be considered ?risky?. The therapies used are varied, and the ways of dealing with this health damage are in constant interaction: they take care of themselves (self-medicate and self-care) and resort to specialists in biomedical knowledge and also to popular healers. In a province where diseases of the respiratory system are the third cause of death, we think it is important to begin to treat them as a problem and put them in our research agendas. In this regard, inquiring about practices and representations can help us to know the ways in which the subjects and social groups live these conditions, in order to address them strategically and eradicate them jointly.