On September 27, 1979, the 1st Meeting on Training and Use of Higher Education Personnel in the Area of ​​Public Health, held at the headquarters of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), in Brasília, mobilized technicians, professionals, students and professors of postgraduate programs in Social Medicine and Public Health committed to founding an association that would bring together the interests of the different courses in the area and that would mark a new attitude towards the knowledge and practices of this field of knowledge: the Brazilian Association of Postgraduate Studies in Collective Health – Abrasco. After 40 years, the incorporation of new Undergraduate courses in Collective Health led to the change of the name of the entity to Associação Brasileira de Saúde Coletiva – Abrasco, defined in the General Assembly held on November 13, 2011.

Abrasco was created with the objective of acting as a support and articulation mechanism between training, teaching and research centers in Collective Health for the mutual strengthening of associated entities and for expanding the dialogue with the technical-scientific community and of this with the health services. health, governmental and non-governmental organizations and civil society. His strong participation in the 8th National Health Conference, held from March 17 to 21, 1986, established his intransigent position in defense of the proposal enshrined there for the Unified Health System – SUS, approved in the 1988 Constitution.

The Association supports and develops projects, seminars, workshops and holds the largest congresses in the area in Latin America, bringing together more than 7,500 congressmen in a single event. In international activities, such as the XI World Congress on Public Health, held in Rio de Janeiro in partnership with the World Federation of Public Health Associations (WFPHA), in 2006, attendance surpassed the mark of 12,000 participants.

Throughout its activity, Abrasco has participated and continues to be present in various spaces of social representation, such as the National Health Council (CNS), National Council for Food and Nutritional Security (Consea), National Council for Women's Rights (CNDM), and Science and Technology forums, maintaining an active voice in the formulation and monitoring of public health, education and science and technology policies.