What’s written in Brazil’s curriculum proposals about health and neglected diseases?: contributions towards health education in science education

Abstract Neglected diseases are of national and international relevance. The neglected diseases’ subject-matter must transcend the health sector and its approach must be present in education as well. In addition, the control and prevention of these diseases, as well as health, should be understood as a multifaceted phenomenon. This study aimed to analyze the neglected diseases’ theme in the Brazilian states’ curriculum proposals for elementary school’s Science subject from 6th to 9th grade. A total of 24 curriculum proposals were gathered and examined. The results showed that only nine of these curricula dealt with neglected diseases as relevant content, still allowing the idea to persist that health is a strictly a biological good or a product of prescriptive actions and cognitive gains.