In search of professional recognition of the Bachelor of Public Health: from the student movement to the creation of ABASC

Abstract

The creation of the bachelor in Public Health in Brazil marks an advance in the consolidation processes in the field of Public Health. However, although it is in full growth, its existence goes through a long maturing process of debate on a set of issues involving the constitution and developments of the sanitarist profession, which directly imply the professional performance of the Bachelor of Public Health. In this sense, it is identified that a Bachelor's Degree in Public Health has been faced with three major problems: the divergences in the professional identity of the sanitarist, the lack of regulation of the sanitarist profession and the difficulty of entering the labor market. Faced with this, the constitution of an organization representing Bachelors in Public Health became essential to support their overcoming. And it is in this context that the construction of the Association of Bachelors in Public Health (ABASC) takes place. Thus, this article aims to carry out an account of this constructive process, which presents how the movement of creation of ABASC took place and what were the main advances of the first biennium of its existence, in order to memorize this significant historical fact in the fight for (re)cognition of the Bachelor of Public Health.

Keywords: public health; bachelor in public health; job market;