Education for child health promotion: the experience with an agrarian reform settlement in Vale do Rio Doce, Minas Gerais, Brazil

Coelho, F. M. G., T. G. d. Castro, et al. (2005). "Education for child health promotion: the experience with an agrarian reform settlement in Vale do Rio Doce, Minas Gerais, Brazil. / Educação para promoção da saúde infantil: relato de experiência em um assentamento de reforma agrária, Vale do Rio Doce (MG)." Ciência & Saúde Coletiva 10(3): 739-747.

Intro: This study reports a pedagogical experience of intervention for child health promotion in a land reform settlement in the Vale do Rio Doce in Minas Gerais, Brazil.

Methods: Grouped and individualized pedagogical procedures were combined to create spaces for discussion of child health and nutrition issues. Diagnosis on health conditions of children under 5 was proposed and planned. Results were discussed in a community meeting. A second meeting consisted of an individualized nutritional counselling offered to the children's mothers, emphasizing the prevalent health problems at this age. The topic of breastfeeding was debated with pregnant and lactating women and a course on Child Health Care was taught to monitor local childhood health.

Results and Conclusions: Results were satisfactory since there was a good participation of the community in the interventionist activities, from planning to implementation. The adopted strategy permitted to detect accepted and effective interventions, and the necessity to reformulate some of them with the community. Furthermore, from a theoretical and methodological point of view, the experience allowed to identify the limitations and potential of the actions by combining areas such as sociology and nutrition in multidisciplinary activities. The actions promoting health and education can contribute to overcome the feeling of social exclusion of a group.