Abstract
Tuberculosis, a global problem related to the population’s living conditions, is a historically complex problem. In recent years, social mobilization has become a fundamental component of disease surveillance. In this article, the concepts of social mobilization for tuberculosis surveillance and control, present in the National Tuberculosis Control Program (2006), in the Strategic Plan for Tuberculosis Control (2007-2015), are critically analyzed in the document description of the implementation of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Malaria and Tuberculosis Program in Brazil and in six Brazilian scientific productions, from 2007 to 2016, that address the theme. Specifically, the study aims to understand these concepts, as well as discuss the relationships between them. All were examined through content analysis. Although favorable to social mobilization, the texts refer to some theoretical and epistemological contradictions. Social mobilization is presented according to a functionalist and utilitarist conception (positivist paradigm of science), with regulatory rather than emancipatory intent. It seems to be a social mobilization in the service of the domestication of society, which disregards the life experiences of the population and the complex structure of production and social reproduction of the disease.
tuberculosis; social mobilization; health education; health surveillance; epistemology