THE EDUCATIONAL DIMENSION OF THE WORK OF THE COMMUNITY HEALTH AGENT: A JOURNEY THROUGH THE GUIDELINES

The aim of this paper is to identify the educational dimension of the work of the Community Health Agent from a path through the documents that guide the actions of this type of generic worker seeking the references to education described in the attributions. The Agents operate in Brazil as part of an official government policy since 1991 when the National Program of Community Health Agents was institutionalized by the Ministry of Health and incorporated into the Family Health Program in 1994. The documents searched date from 1991 to 2018: four manuals, an ordinance (No. 1886/1997), a decree (No. 3189/1999), three laws (No. 10507/2002, No. 11350/2006 and No. 13595/2018), a competency profile, three National Primary Care policies and a review paper. Through the documentary research it was possible to observe that the educational dimension is present in all the guidelines allowing to identify in the theoretical field the ACS as a health educator.