This essay discusses the interdisciplinary use of concepts applied to the field of Collective Health exploringthe relation between the concept of vulnerability, in its social dimension, and Health Education, from the perspective of the Paulo Freire teory. Through the development of Collective Health, and within the complexity of the political game, the critical radicality is missed and the neoliberal purposes of concepts linked to popular participation emerge, such as health promotion and empowerment. Vulnerability is understood as fragility specially in the Human Rights field. This it’s not a concept specially worked by Freire, although its representations in Collective Health let us consider it jointly with the ideas of autonomy and dependence. This is specially relevant in the context of the social oppression relations which are the central focus in Freire’s reflections, implying that it must be part of the processes of Popular Education in Health.
Vulnerability; Epistemology; Collective health and epidemiology; Paulo Freire; Popular education in health