Biomaterial Database

[Understanding popular health education: a review of the Brazilian literature]. 2011

Luciano Bezerra Gomes, and Emerson Elias Merhy

Centro de Ciências Médicas, Universidade Federal da Paraíba, João Pessoa, Brasil. lucianobgomes@gmail.com

This article reviews the Brazilian literature on popular health education, a theoretical area that includes a relevant group of the country's public health researchers and political activists. This was a qualitative, exploratory, analytical study. Based on a search in the SciELO database and books and book chapters, we systematized the academic output on popular health education in Brazil. The article discusses the historical process in which popular health education was constructed by various social movements. We further analyze the general characteristics of popular health education and its main agendas, the ways by which authors with this perspective view the educational work of health services for the population, and their critiques and disputes with the hegemonic approach to the organization of education and health care. Finally, we identify several additional contributions to popular health education's foundations and principles.

UI	MeSH Term	Description	Entries
D011634	Public Health	Branch of medicine concerned with the prevention and control of disease and disability, and the promotion of physical and mental health of the population on the international, national, state, or municipal level.	Community Health,Environment, Preventive Medicine & Public Health,Environment, Preventive Medicine and Public Health,Health, Community,Health, Public
D001938	Brazil	A country located on the eastern coast of South America, located between Colombia and Peru, that borders the Atlantic Ocean. It is bordered on the north by Venezuela, Guyana, Suriname, and French Guiana, on the south by Uruguay, and on the west by Argentina. The capital is Brasilia.
D006266	Health Education	Education that increases the awareness and favorably influences the attitudes and knowledge relating to the improvement of health on a personal or community basis.	Community Health Education,Education, Health,Education, Community Health,Health Education, Community
D006801	Humans	Members of the species Homo sapiens.	Homo sapiens,Man (Taxonomy),Human,Man, Modern,Modern Man
D012959	Socioeconomic Factors	Social and economic factors that characterize the individual or group within the social structure.	Economic and Social Factors,Social Inequalities,Social Inequality,Social and Economic Factors,Socioeconomic Characteristics,Factors, Socioeconomic,High-Income Population,Land Tenure,Standard of Living,Characteristic, Socioeconomic,Factor, Socioeconomic,High Income Population,High-Income Populations,Inequality, Social,Living Standard,Living Standards,Population, High-Income,Socioeconomic Characteristic,Socioeconomic Factor,Tenure, Land