[Alternative approaches to the control of schistosomiasis: trying to include subjective elements in epidemiology].

This study discusses the possibility of integrating the "subjective" in epidemiological research. Alternative approaches are presented for programs to provide health and educational services, as well as others which are the right of citizens to receive and the responsibility of the government to provide. The characteristics of participatory research, community-based epidemiology, and popular education programs are described, with the purpose of constructing a model for the control of schistosomiasis using alternative methodologies, including in the model the perceptions and life styles of populations exposed to Schistosoma mansoni. The Federal Government is indicated as the institution to provide the material conditions necessary to form a citizenry with the collective will to control schistosomiasis.