Resumo

FIGUEIREDO, Simone Pallone de  e  VELHO, Léa. Cirurgia bariátrica na mídia: o caso da Folha de S. Paulo. BIS, Bol. Inst. Saúde (Impr.) [online]. 2010, vol.12, n.1, pp. 61-67. ISSN 1518-1812.

ABSTRACT The obesity theme have been calling a great deal of attention in the past few years, and more critically in the 90's, when it developed epidemic attributes. It has been classified as such for reaching an increasingly large number of people, even in Brazil, as shows recent researches of the Health Ministry (Vigitel - Risk Factors Surveillance and Chronicle Disease Protection by means of Telephonic Inquiry). The situation leads to a speed on the range of scientific research targeting the causes, consequences and treatments that help control the epidemic. Governments are also mobilized for developing and implementing measures that modify the environment favoring the increase of the obesity throughout the populations. One of these measures was the approval of the bariatric surgery performed by the Unified Health System (SUS), in 2001. This article analyses the announcements concerning the bariatric surgery published on a major newspaper. The goal is to investigate the role of the media in the medicalization process of the obesity and social construction of this epidemic.

Palavras-chave : Obesity; bariatric surgery; scientific journalism.