Socioeconomic inequality in Latin America and the Caribbean: the post-pandemic future for the training of health professionals.

Inequality is a global, structural problem that is particularly marked in the world's poorest countries. The covid-19 pandemic exacerbated this historic problem in Latin America and the Caribbean and deepened uncertainties in relation to basic human needs. This study presents an overview of the subject on the basis of official reports from international agencies (PAHO, WHO, ECLAC) between 2019 and 2022 and discusses some paths for the training of health professionals in Brazil.

[Struggles for the history of health: perspectives on the social sciences in health based on the intellectual trajectory of Luiz Antonio de Castro Santos].

This interview discusses the connections between social sciences and health, based on the trajectory of sociologist Luiz Antonio de Castro Santos. Castro Santos was an active participant in the process of integrating these fields, and considers some of the challenges he faced as a way of addressing approaches that were not always devoid of tension. In a conversation rich in facts and processes, Castro Santos describes some of the most important characters and landmarks from a trajectory that contributed to the social sciences and history, and especially to the health sciences.

[Norbert Elias on the phenomenology of aging and death].

This study focuses on the contribution by German sociologist Norbert Elias (1897-1990) to the theme of aging and death. A reading of Elias' work allows reconsidering his analyses and perspectives on the thresholds of aging and death in societies with different demographic histories. Norbert Elias addressed these issues in The Loneliness of the Dying, published in 1982 in Germany and with an expanded version in 1985 in England.

[Healthcare professions: a critical analysis of care].

The article focuses on the activities of nurses and physical therapists within Brazil's Unified Health System (Sistema Único de Saúde), especially the Family Health Program. With the appearance of new professions and redefinitions in the practices of traditional healthcare professions, the subsequent multi-professional, interdisciplinary type of work has presented challenges when it comes to training new generations of healthcare providers, all part of an endeavor to humanize care and provide universalist, integrated, high-quality services. Collective health has contributed to this effort by networking with other fields of knowledge and human sciences.