[Health promotion and disease prevention: an individual responsibility or social responsibility]

This article is about some theoretical assumptions that have guided health promotion and disease prevention strategies. Some questions are raised in relation to the professional's interventions that consider health promotion as an individual responsibility. It is suggested that the focus should be on social changes through the professionals' consciousness in social, political, behavioral and economic aspects that exert influences over the population's health. These ideas ought to be incorporated to the nurse-client interaction.