Teaching and learning health promotion through social participation, interculturality and popular education

Abstract

In this chapter we will describe and analyse three experiences, in the field of Health Promotion, in three different countries (Brazil, Portugal and Mexico). Although each experience has unique characteristics, they have in common the use of participatory work methodologies, the objective of which is to include the participants and their sociocultural contexts in the elaboration, execution and evaluation processes. In Portugal, experiences include training actions in participatory health research with technicians from community organisations. In Mexico, the intercultural mission aims to be a tool to understand the different elements associated with culture and health, as well as to develop respect for therapeutic practices and healthcare systems, such as indigenous medicine. In Brazil, the objective of the Permanent Education Program for Community Health Agents (PEPACS) was to create skills for the exercise of health promotion in the daily lives of these professionals. Based on the experience accumulated by the three groups of researchers, we hope to create possibilities to build new teaching-learning approaches in the field of health promotion.