teacher of Bahiana represents Brazil at conference in France

The professor of the Medicine course and coordinator of the Common Nucleus in Ethics and Bioethics of the Health courses at Bahiana, Dr. Liliane Lins, was in France from November 13th to 23rd, where she represented Brazil at a conference held during the Meeting of Philosophy Specialists, at the invitation of the Schweitzer Lambaréné International Association (l'AISL). The presentation was about Humanization in Health, the work process in SUS primary care and the need for humanization in the training of health professionals. The meeting took place in Gunsbach, region of Alsace. Researchers from Norway, France, Germany, Switzerland and Gabon also participated in the event.

Na Bahiana, Prof. Dr. Liliane Lins coordinates the Research Group of the CNPq Nucleus for Study and Research in Ethics and Bioethics, where she conducts research on Humanization in the Training of Health Professionals.

During the period she spent in France, Prof. Dr. Liliane Lins took the opportunity to intensify her research on the theme of Humanization in Health, in addition to dedicating herself to deepening international research relations between UFBA, Escola Bahiana de Medicina e Saúde Pública, l'AISL and the Albert Schweitzer hospital in Gabon.

Check out the interview.

How did the research theme come about?
The first initiative of this research came in 2010 when I presented my Free Teaching Thesis at a UNESCO meeting in Israel. There I met the medical researcher and philosopher Jan HelgeSolbakk. In this meeting, my approach to the Schweitzerian Ethics took place. In 2011, I chaired a table in Istanbul at the Congress of the European Society for Medical Ethics. Before the congress, in the same city, there would be a School for the Globalization of Bioethics (GLEUBE) in the European mold, personalized. I applied for a scholarship by the European Union and was approved. To my surprise, one of the professors at GLEUBE was Jan Helge. It was in 2012 that we started a research more focused on the Schweitzerian Philosophy focused on health education. With funding from FAPESB, we did a week of research in Gunsbach and the presentation of our project that involves Bahiana, UFBA and the Schweitzer Lambaréné International Association (AISL).

That year, I was invited to the AISL Philosophy Specialists Conference, to which I now formally participate, presenting the theme of humanization in health.


What is the importance of this theme in health education?
In teaching Ethics and Bioethics, we make great use of the well-known Principialist Bioethics, which is characteristically normative. It is a useful tool in humanization, however, it is based on rules. In our plural Brazilian context, other reflections are needed to deal with social disparities and cultural differences. It is in this aspect that the Ethics of Respect for Life, not only in relationships with human beings, but with animals and the environment, brings important reflections of broad responsibility. This responsibility, which is the result of a conscious construction, is fundamental in health care in this unequal context of our country. There is a well-known philosopher here in Brazil, I've even written two texts about him, Hans Jonas, which addresses the Principle of Responsibility. However, the ethic of respect and responsibility described by Jonas is very similar to the Schweitzerian Philosophy that was written more than fifty years earlier.

What are the main points covered?
Interestingly, Schweitzer was a physician, musician, philosopher and theologian. He died in Africa practicing medicine in the hospital he founded in Gabon. As the philosopher himself stated, the ethics he developed came from practice. Schweitzer practiced medicine for years, within the conditions possible for a hospital with few resources, generalist and humanist. It is this meeting that we need in the construction of the SUS. Generalist, humanist professionals capable of solving population demands. In this aspect, we approach the SUS, the need to train professionals in this profile, just as the Bahiana. During these 14 years of teaching, this is the path of responsibility and commitment that the Bahiana has had to its teachers and students.

I also believe that practice is fundamental to teaching. For this reason, in the teaching of Ethics and Bioethics, maintaining clinical practice, in my case, surgery and dentistry, and conducting research with human beings are fundamental. Other practical aspects that help me in learning health education is working in the Ethics Chamber of the Professional Council and in the vice-coordination of an Ethics and Research Committee at the Faculty of Medicine of Bahia (UFBA). All these elements are aggregators.

How does this partnership happen AISL, UFBA and Bahiana?
It is a joint scientific production and learning partnership. We already have articulated works, including on environmental issues. It is through the Study and Research Center in Ethics and Bioethics of CNPq Bahiana that we plead our projects even in partnership with UFBA. Our cooperation with AISL involves not only Ethics and Bioethics, but also the Albert Schweitzer hospital in Gabon, where we intend to carry out work in the field of stomatology and maxillofacial surgery.

We will try to bring visiting researchers via the development agency that can carry out an effective work of social return, empowering our population. This is the case of the Israeli researcher who belongs to our research group at Bahiana. She is a bioethicist, a lawyer, who is finishing her Israel-Norway sandwich doctorate, who is studying Women's Law.



Liliane Lins
Full Professor of the Medicine Course at Escola Bahiana de Medicina e Saúde Pública (Bahiana). Ethics and Bioethics.
Coordinator of the Common Nucleus on Ethics and Bioethics of the Health courses at Bahiana.
Specialist in Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery and Traumatology
PhD in Human Pathology-FIOCRUZ-FMB-UFBA.
Associate Professor in Bioethics FMB-UFBA.
Adjunct Professor at the Faculty of Medicine of Bahia-UFBA. Ethics and Bioethics - DMPS.
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