PANORAMA OF UNDERGRADUATE COLLECTIVE HEALTH COURSES IN BRAZIL BETWEEN 2008 AND 2014

Abstract

Several undergraduate programs in public health have been created in Brazil since 2008. Previous publications have described the opening process, the student profile, and the experiences these courses have had. Here we present a general profile of courses that were opened between 2008 and 2014. The information was obtained from the Brazilian Association of Public Health's Undergraduate Forum in Public Health Coordination and from the courses' institutional homepages. During the study period, there was a significant increase in the number of undergraduate programs in public health in the country; new job openings grew sixfold, and 285 people got bachelors degrees in public health. In early 2014, there were 18 courses in operation (17 in the public sector), with a total of 2,532 students enrolled. While graduate-level training in public health predominates in the Southeast, undergraduate courses are well spread in the country, although there is a need for further expansion to meet the Unified Health System's demands. Although these courses' training guidelines are similar, there are differences in their nomenclatures. The challenges to be faced in the further consolidation of undergraduate courses in public health as a training modality include the needs of the national curriculum guidelines, the continued expansion of the courses, the professional recognition of the graduates, and their greater incorporation into public health in the labor market.

Keywords
public health; undergraduate courses; Unified Health System