In spite of the goals of 'new' public health and its emphasis on health promotion as an investment in the autonomy of the 'public' to make decisions on health, by means of interventions in its structural conditioning factors, health education in general remains focused on individual responsibility and disease prevention. The article discusses these issues, presenting the main proposals of health promotion that emerged in the 70's as the main strategy of the so-called 'new public health'. Based on a literature review, categorized according to the themes of interest for the proposed discussion, the article also analyzes the use of these proposals in the field of health education. The literature search for a theoretical background to support this analysis is justified by the relevance of the discussed issues for nursing practice and the limited production of theoretical approaches about health promotion and health education by nurses.
health promotion; public health; education