[Health education in Brazil: from Paulo Freire to today]. / Education populaire et education pour la santé au Brésil, sur les traces de Paulo Freire....

ABSTRACT

This paper examines the experience of Brazil in the area of health education integrated in popular education movements. More specifically, the paper discusses the link between health education and popular education, focusing in particular on the work of Paulo Freire. Anti-slavery movements, protest movements against social inequalities and the reconstruction of democracy after the end of the military dictatorship (1965-1984) provided fertile ground for a dynamic process of change--a process illustrated by the creation of the Unified Health System. These developments occurred in a context of social change and unrest. Since then, other actors and other forms of action have emerged, though creativity and popular empowerment remain central to the process of change. However, in popular education, nothing is set in stone and new issues have emerged, as Paulo Freire had predicted. The point is to recognize that popular education applied to health, or rather integrating health, is constantly changing and developing.