School Health Program: health education challenges for the prevention of Dengue, Zika, and Chikungunya

Abstract

This article reflects on health education strategies for the prevention of Dengue, Zika, and Chikungunya within the School  Health Program toward comprehensive  health care of students of primary public  education in schools, in partnership with  the Primary Health Care Units. This national  research is nested in a project called  Arbocontrol and coordinated by the Faculty  of Health Sciences of the University  of  Brasília, with support from the Ministry of  Health, to combat and control arboviruses  transmitted by Aedes aegypti. This  qualitative study is based on the  Foucauldian thinking of biopolitics. One  hundred fifty-eight teachers and 117 health  professionals from 16 municipalities in the  five Brazilian regions were interviewed. The  results indicated that the implementation of the PSE does not incorporate community knowledge into the actions. The content-oriented educational model establishes, a  priori, what should be addressed, and the  fragile intersectoral articulation for the  planning of actions has hampered its  effectiveness. Health education is still  understood as an informative process for  self-care, fostered by biopolitical strategies  of disciplining the bodies of subjects or  establishing their subjectivities for self-care, making them accountable for their health.