Emerging themes in social sciences and public/collective health: production of knowledge at its interface

Abstract

In this article, we firstly point out some fundamental questions to understand the relationship between Social Sciences and Health from the beginning of the 20th century.The presence of Social Sciences in Public Health is discussed, as well as the constitution of the field of Collective Health, with the creation of the Associação Brasileira de Pós Graduação em Saúde Coletiva- ABRASCO ("Brazilian Association of Post Graduation in Collective Health"), in the late 70's; the definition of three research lines in the new area: Health Policies and Health Service Organization, Life and Health Conditions, Human Resources in Health; and two emerging research themes: Work and Health, and Violence and Health. In the last topics, dedicated to the challenges in knowledge production at the interface of Social Sciences, Public Health and Collective Health, the author presents her considerations on some points discussed by Amélia Cohn by occasion of a Round Table organized by Revista Saúde e Sociedade ("Health and Society Magazine") on March 20th, 2012, and the new challenges, research lines and emerging themes for collective health and for social sciences in this area, in the context of the years 2000.