About one thousand participants (CBCSHS..., 2019) walked approximately two thousand meters through the streets of the capital of a state in the Northeast of Brazil, in defense of more diversity and democracy in the Brazilian National Health System - SUS (EM PAUTA..., 2019). On a Saturday afternoon, September 28, 2019, almost half of the participants of the 8th Brazilian Congress of Social and Human Sciences in Health (CONGRESSO..., 2019) departed from the congress headquarters, the Federal University of Paraiba (UFPB), towards Praça da Paz, making the scientific event even more playful, cultural, artistic and political. The previous day, the Congress hosted a ceremony eagerly awaited by all: the celebration of the 40th anniversary of the Brazilian Association of Collective Health -Abrasco (ENCONTRO..., 2019). This mix of protest and commemoration marked the 8th Congress, held at UFPB, in João Pessoa, from September 26 to 30, 2019, on the theme "Equality in Differences: Confrontations in the joint construction of well-being and the SUS".

The 8th Brazilian Congress of Social and Human Sciences in Health had 2,168 participants, while the 7th Congress in Cuiabá, in 2016, received 958 (RELATÓRIO..., 2017); the 6th, in Rio de Janeiro in 2013, received 1,645; the 5th, in São Paulo in 2011, made it with 1,250; and the 1st, in Curitiba, in 1995 - when it was still called “Brazilian Congress of Social Sciences in Health”, 400. The growth in the number of participants was accompanied by the increase in the number of higher education institutions that have been nominating representatives for the Abrasco Commission on Social and Human Sciences in Health, the event organizer. In 1995, only six institutions appointed representatives (CANESQUI, 1995CANESQUI, A. M. Apresentação. In: ______. (Org.). Dilemas e desafios das Ciências Sociais na Saúde Coletiva. São Paulo: Hucitec-Abrasco; 1995. p. 11-18.). In 2011 this number increased to 10 (RELATÓRIO..., 2015) and in 2014 to 20 (RELATÓRIO..., 2016), reaching 29 in 2019 (COMPOSIÇÃO..., 2019). This expansion is the result of a collective effort, including professors from the Social Medicine Institute at Rio de Janeiro State University, such as Madel Luz, Luiz Antonio de Castro Santos, Kenneth R. Camargo Jr., Roseni Pinheiro, Francisco Ortega and Claudia Mora, who took turns as representatives of the Institute in the aforementioned Commission (PINHEIRO, 2013PINHEIRO, R. Projeto Memória: 30 anos da Comissão de Ciências Sociais e Humanas em Saúde/Abrasco. Rio de Janeiro: UERJ/IMS/Lappis; 2013. Disponível em: https://www.abrasco.org.br/site/comissaodecienciassociaisehumanasemsaude/wp-content/uploads/sites/5/2016/11/Projeto_Memoria_CBCSHS.pdf. Acesso em: 27 out. 2019.
https://www.abrasco.org.br/site/comissao... ).

These congresses sometimes express the concentration of scientific production in the South-Southeast axis (IANNI et al., 2015IANNI, A. M. Z. et al. Os Congressos Brasileiros de Ciências Sociais e Humanas em Saúde da Abrasco: um campo científico em disputa. Ciênc. saúde coletiva, Rio de Janeiro, v. 20, n. 2, p. 503-513, fev. 2015. Disponível em: <http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S1413-81232015000200503&lng=en&nrm=iso>. Acesso em: 27 out. 2019.), sometimes the regional capillarity of the Social and Human Sciences in Health (TRAD, 2012TRAD, L. A. B. Temas e enfoques contemporâneos nas Ciências Sociais e Humanas no Brasil: expressões e tendências refletidas no V congresso da área. Cad. Saúde Pública. Rio de Janeiro, v. 28, n. 12, p. 2373-2379, 2012. Disponível em: http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0102-311X2012001400016. Acesso em: 5 mar. 2019.
http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=s... ), so that one of the achievements of the 8th Congress concerns precisely the fact that the vast majority of its thematic groups (WGs) - 27 of 29 - were multi-regional, ie most WGs were coordinated by people linked to institutions located in at least two of the five regions of Brazil, including North, Northeast and Midwest. The regional diversity of the WGs is in line with the very configuration of the Committee on Social and Human Health Sciences, unique to Abrasco's three committees - the other two being Epidemiology and Politics, Planning and Management - with representatives from universities in the five country regions. The capillarity, diversity and regional decentralization of the 8th Congress and the Committee represent a breakthrough in the fight against inequities in science and technology in Brazil, revealing the continuity of Committee management.

These and other achievements of the 8th Congress express, in addition to continuity and convergence, coherence between ideas and acts, as the teamwork of the national and local organizing committees, as well as the Congress scientific committee, enabled the combination of equality and difference at various levels. Among the innovations of the Congress, the following stand out: 1) students presented proposals of WGs, and some of WGs were coordinated by students of specialization courses; 2) members of social movements were part of the scientific committee, contributing to the construction of criteria for awarding the works presented in the 29 WGs; and 3) specific evaluation criteria were elaborated for the experience reports presented in these WGs, valuing the level of learning acquired in the experiences, as well as the exercise of critical thinking about the interventions.

None of this would have been possible without the protagonism of the local organizing committee in the whole process of building the Congress, composed by Eymard Vasconcelos, Pedro Cruz and other representatives of UFPB Popular Health Education, involved in extension projects that received national recognition (VASCONCELOS; CRUZ, 2013VASCONCELOS, E. M.; CRUZ, P. J. (Orgs.) Educação Popular na Formação Universitária: reflexões com base em uma experiência. São Paulo, João Pessoa: Hucitec, Editora Universitária da UFPB, 2013.). The inhabitants of João Pessoa still suffer symbolic and material damage linked directly or indirectly to the national government scenario, such as regional prejudice (EXAME, 2019) and pollution on the beaches (PESQUISADORES..., 2019).

Approaching well-being (ACOSTA, 2016ACOSTA, A. O bem viver: uma oportunidade para imaginar outros mundos. São Paulo: Autonomia Literária/Elefante, 2016.) becomes urgent when we live these and other social and environmental disasters, as this concept emerges as a critique of the idea of development: more than efficiency, we should talk about sufficiency, in a perspective focused on living together in community, which is distinct from welfare regarded from an exclusively individual point of view. Amid so much chauvinism and other forms of discrimination among the representatives of the current Federal Government, it is more than ever necessary to promote the debate on equality in differences in our congresses.

We brought together educators and students, poets and researchers, activists and representatives of indigenous peoples at João Pessoa's Praça da Paz during the 8th Congress, nourishing the hope that other public acts will happen in the events promoted by Abrasco and other Brazilian scientific associations that fight for human rights. We still have many confrontations ahead, as it is increasingly evident that the contemporary world is not at all friendly to a shared construction between academia, health services and community.

References

REVISORES DE NOVEMBRO/2018 A OUTUBRO/2019

Adelyne Mendes Pereira

Adriana Greco

Adriano Maia dos Santos

Adriano Rosa

Alessandro Campolina

Alice Hirdes

Amanda Ornela

Ana Abrahão Silva

Ana Carolina Feldenheimer

Ana Claudia Monteiro

Ana Cristina Figueiredo

Ana Paula Guljor

Ana Paula Hemmi

Ana Paula Melo

Ana Raquel Lima

Anahí Farj

André Felipe Cândido da Silva

Andre Luis Bonifacio de Carvalho

André Luis de O. Mendonça

André Rangel Rios

Ândrea C. Souza

Andreza Nakano

Bianca V. Sophia

Camila Matias Pereira

Camilla Lopes Vieira

Carine Blatt

Carinne Magnago

Carla Guedes

Carla Rocha Pereira

Carlos Dimas M. Ribeiro

Cecília Soares

Cinara Moutinho

Clarice Mota

Clarissa Seixas

Clarissa Tochetto

Claudia Cunha

Claudia Henschel de Lima

Claudia Jurberg

Claudia M. F. Penido

Claudia Passos Ferreira

Claudia Rezende

Cristiane Araújo

Cristiane Silvestre de Paula

Cristina Loyola

Charles Dalcanale Tesser

Christiana Profice

Daniel Groisman

Daniela Alves

Daniela Murta Amaral

Daniela Oliveira Melo

Daniela Ribeiro Schneider

Daniela Savi Geremia

Danilo Carvalho Oliveira

Deison Lucietto

Deivisson Vianna Santos

Denize Ribeiro

Edilson Marins Rodrigues Neto

Edna Aparecida Castro

Elaine Teixeira Rabello

Fabiana Pires

Fabio Pedro Balboa

Fatima Cecchetto

Felipe R. S. Machado

Fernanda Loureiro

Fernanda Martinhago

Fernanda Mendes

Flavia H. Freire

Frederico Policarpo

Gabriel Eduardo Schütz

Gaspar Maza

Gilberto Avalos

Grasiele Nespoli

Gustavo Figueiredo

Heloisa Morais

Hilderman Cardona

Hudson Pacífico

Iara Falleiros Braga

Isabela Samico

Islandia Maria Carvalho de Sousa

Izabel Passos

Jane Dutra Sayd

Jane M. Progianti

Jaqueline Ferreira

Joelson Rodrigues

Jorge Mathias do Nascimento

José Ricardo Ayres

Josué Laguardia

Julian Antman

Juliane Peruzzo

Júlio Simões

Kalline Russo de Souza

Karen Matsumoto

Katia Aguiar

Kelly Alves

Kênia Silva

Laura López

Laura Murray

Laura Pozzana

Leandro Gonçalves

Leandro Wenceslau

Leila Senna Maia

Lenir Nascimento

Leny Alves Bomfim Trad

Liliane Carvalho

Lina Berardinelli

Lucas Melo

Lucía Ariza

Luciana Motta

Luciana Simas

Luciana Surjus

Luciane Miranda Guerra

Luiz Augusto Souza

Luiz Teixeira

Luiza Costa

Lumena Almeida Castro Furtado

Luna Rodrigues Freitas-Silva

Luzia Oliveira

Magda S. Chagas

Magda Scherer

Manoel Olavo Teixeira

Manuela Muller

Marcela Aguiar

Marcela Belardo

Marcelo Mercante

Marcia Fernanda de Mello Mendes

Marcilio Dantas Brandão

Marco Antônio Benamú

Marco Aurélio Jorge

Marcos Nascimento

Mardênia Pitombeira

Mari Luz Esteban

Maria Belen Herrero

Maria Cecília Carvalho

Maria Claudia Veiga S. Carvalho

Maria Cristina Marcon

Maria Cristina Ventura Couto

Maria de Fátima Tavares

Maria Del Carmen Acuña

Maria Eduarda Moraes

Maria Elizabeth Barros de Barros

Maria Inês Moreira

Maria Luiza Cunha

Maria Stella Castro Lobo

Mariana Cruz

Mariana Pande

Marilene Cabral do Nascimento

Marina Guimarães Lima

Marina Nucci

Marisa Santos

Marselle Carvalho

Marta Rocha de Castro

Marta Velloso

Martinho Braga e Silva Batista

Micheline Azevedo Meiners

Michelle Cecille

Mirna Teixeira

Nébia Figueiredo

Neide Emy Kurokawa e Silva

Neli Maria Almeida

Neuma Chaveiro

Nilia Prado

Nivaldo Carneiro

Nuria Malajovich

Octavio Presgrave

Pablo Rocon

Paloma Porto

Patricia Almeida Fidelis

Patrícia Araújo

Patricia Delfini

Paula Cerqueira

Paula Land

Paula Miura

Paulo R. Fagundes

Pedro Barbosa

Pedro Paulo Gomes Pereira

Petrônio José Martelli

Regina Facchini

Renarde Freire Nobre

Renata Vasconcelos

Ricardo Burg Ceccim

Ricardo Kuchenbecker

Ricardo Lugon

Roberta Romagnoli

Roberto Amorim de Medeiros

Rodrigo Toniol

Roger Keller Celeste

Ronaldo Teodoro dos Santos

Rosa Rocha

Rosana R.C. Castro

Roseni Pinheiro

Rosilda Mendes

Rosilene Gomes

Ruben Araujo de Mattos

Sabrina Calil-Elias

Sandra Caponi

Sandra M. Sales Fagundes

Sérgio Alarcon

Shirley de Souza Simeão

Silvia Aguião

Simone Triquez

Sirleine Brandão de Souza

Sônia Nicoletto

Tânia Ferreira

Tatiana Tavares da Silva

Telma Menicucci

Thaíse Bezerra

Tiago Pires Marques

Valeska Zanello

Vanessa Maia Rangel

Vanessa Silva

Vera Lúcia Mendes

Veronica Alcoforado

Vladimir Araujo da Silva

Wagner X. Camargo

Walter Belik

Xavier Medina

Ximena Bermudez

Yolanda Bodoque

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