The present paper discusses the relation between health and public health engineering in the context of social development. Initially we defend the insertion of this concept in the presently used approach, health and environment, recognizing that this new area does not eliminate the relevancy of the health-environment approach, being actually its precursor. We present the concept of public health engineering, its present-day situation in Brasil, as well as the paremeters for the relation health - public health engineering. Development indicators from Brazil and other countries are confronted with sanitary indicators demonstrating that in Brazil, taking into consideration the degree of economic development and the extent of offered sanitary services, a better performance of health indicators could be expected. We evaluate the conclusions of epidemiological studies on sanitation and, finally, we discuss the perspectives of the health - public health engineering approach.
Public Health Engineering; Water Supply; Sanitation; Health Indicators; Development
