Education and specialization of health professionals and the political need to face social and regional inequalities

Professional education and practice cannot follow parallel lines in the development of health systems; they need to be organically related. Medical education allows for services, conditions for recruiting and holding professionals, for the possibility of creating teams, the development and evaluation of care and assistance technologies and for building critical understanding and sensibilities. The net of health systems and services generates fields of practices, sceneries for intervention according to local demands, the scientific and technological bases, social inclusion and opportunities for understanding life. Once all this is brought together one can speak of being committed to relieving the regional and social inequalities, that is, only then we can establish conditions for facing the damage caused by poverty and social inequities, producing knowledge of scientific merit and social relevance and educate health professionals meeting the health demands of the population.

Social conditions; Human Development; Medical Education; Medical Schools; Distributional Activities