Health education in Latin America in the twenty-first century: a level of visibility inversely proportional to practice quality
Cardaci, D.
Sante Publique 25(2 Suppl): S161-S166
2013
ISSN/ISBN: 0995-3914 PMID: 24313075 Document Number: 275710
In Latin America, the concept of health education has undergone significant changes in recent times, and the object, theory and methods of professional practice have been redefined. The purpose of this paper is to examine trends in practice, research and training among health education professionals in Latin America from the early twentieth century to the present. A literature review was conducted and a questionnaire was sent to 24 professional practitioners in fifteen Latin American countries. The participants reported that they had seen a decline of interest in their discipline, its field of action and the health education activities implemented at individual and collective levels. However, the design of interventions appears to have improved. Interventions in this area are based on the results of studies on people's perception of and response to risk and vulnerability and on educational experiences based on action research that have contributed to reducing inequalities and to politicizing the public health debate. The conceptual and operational frameworks of health promotion and education have converged in recent years. Health education has incorporated theoretical and methodological frameworks from the field of collective health and from anthropology and the social sciences. However, these developments remain marginal. Many countries continue to rely on one-directional biomedical conceptions of the health education process that downplay the importance of structural factors and social organizations.