Right to Health and Social Participation: simulation of the Municipal Health Council in Basic Education

Social Participation encompasses actions promoted by various social forces to influence the formulation, implementation and evaluation of public policies. This article aims to analyze the teaching-learning process, seeking to develop theoretical and practical knowledge related to social participation in health within the community and the school context. This qualitative research conducted with 8th-grade students from an Elementary School included the following stages: diagnostic pre-evaluation, pre-simulation, simulation of a Municipal Health Council meeting, and post-evaluation. The collected data were analyzed and categorized through the content analysis proposed by Bardin. Three categories were identified: Health, Rights and Social Participation. The educational activities and the simulation encouraged a broadened understanding of health, the recognition of civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights, the identification of violations of rights in the community; and the recognition of social participation as a means of ensuring rights and approaching the Municipal Health Council.