Drug users. Mental health. Comprehensive health care.

Traditional strategies, based on insecticides and individual behaviors, have not been shown as sufficient in the control of diseases related to Aedes aegypti. Insights on Popular Education in Health that go beyond biomedical aspects and include social, economic and political factors must be considered in this control and be present in the training of professionals in the area. In this work, the health education conceptions of Biological Sciences students from two public universities were investigated, at the beginning and at the end of graduation, through questionnaires regarding strategies to control vector-borne diseases and the role of the Sciences/Biology teacher on health promotion. Most answers included sanitary education and the valuing of monitoring, awareness and prevention measures against mosquito breeding sites. Few responses included notions of popular education in the demand for changes in society and the guarantee of human rights such as basic sanitation, a balanced environment and health services. The view of the teacher as a transmitter of knowledge prevailed, and not as a motivator for dialogues, who articulates the issue of dengue with the social determinants of health. The focus on sanitary education in the conception of students raises insights on the need for further studies on popular education in the training of biologists. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]