The authors debate the possibilities and difficulties of preventing the various forms of violence from the point of view of public health. They define terms like prevention, promotion of health and the complex concept of violence. They present the Brazilian context facing the serious problems that social violence means to the health area. They offer prevention proposals in course in diferents countries, including Brazil. They conclude that violence can be undone because it is a social and historical phenomenon which is constructed in society. Due to its complexity, any process of intervention should contain macro-structural, conjunctural, cultural, relational and subjective issues. At the same time, it should specify the problems, the risk factors and the possibilities of change.
Violence; Prevention; Promotion of Health