Introduction: The clearest origin of the term community can be traced back to the late 19th century, in the political discourse of the time, in the works of authors such as Hegel and Marx. Objective: To understand the historical evolution of the concept of community and its relationship to public health. Methods: A literature review was conducted on the term community and its approach from various angles, from ancient Greece to the present day. Results: The origin of the term community dates back to ancient times, when people grouped together as a means of protection against the threats of nature and to ensure the survival of the group through the provision of food. Community action to improve health should not be determined in the classic way of health interventions, that is, from academia or government to the population, but should be generated in the opposite direction: from the community and the team to the central-higher level. Conclusions: Over time, the concept of community has been used in most of the processes of territory construction. Community health is a model of care that involves comprehensiveness, interdisciplinarity, intersectorality, and social development.
Funded by the German Federal Foreign Office
