Abstract

BASTIDAS, Gilberto; MALAVE, Carlos; BASTIDAS, Daniel  and  DELGADO, Geraldine Bastidas. Traditional educational program of human or medical parasitology. Horiz. Med. [online]. 2024, vol.24, n.1, e2482.  Epub Mar 27, 2024. ISSN 1727-558X.  http://dx.doi.org/10.24265/horizmed.2024.v24n1.12.

The teaching of human parasitology is essential for students of health sciences, especially medicine, because it is a major global public health problem―occurring with high frequency in low-income countries―and because of its presence in countries considered developed. In this sense, it is estimated that worldwide there are 2,800 million individuals infected with soil-transmitted helminths, 20 to 30% people infected with Toxoplasma gondii, 300 to 500 million new cases of malaria per year, and nearly 15 million Latin Americans with Chagas disease, an infection caused by Trypanosoma cruzi.

This narrative review article analyzes information available in digital repositories on aspects of the traditional educational program of human or medical parasitology using descriptors or keywords closely related to the topic. The reviewed articles were mainly those published in peer-reviewed, indexed and prestigious scientific journals. Moreover, the traditional program of parasitology and the prevailing pedagogy are described with the purpose of encouraging discussion on the methods that lead to its learning. Also, given the dynamic nature of this process and the constant challenges that must be faced in this field, said information can help to explore new ways of teaching parasitology in answer to the demands of the context.

In conclusion, parasitic diseases have affected humankind throughout history, causing illness, disability and death in millions of people. Therefore, among the measures to fight such a terrible scourge, the training of more and better professionals in the area is promoted due to their leading role in the design and execution of control programs. As a result, the need to describe in detail the characteristics of the traditional teaching of this branch of knowledge arises―as shown in this paper―in view of the new human teaching methods: participatory learning, problem-based learning and Internetassisted learning.

Keywords : Parasitology; Teaching; Curriculum; Program.

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