[The teaching of preventive and social pediatrics at the undergraduate level in the school of medicine of the University of São Paulo].

After some considerations about the particular situation of pediatric departments within the global context of the medical education, the authors discuss the graduate teaching of Social and Preventive Pediatrics (primary care), as carried out by the Department of Pediatrics, University of São Paulo Medical School. The following aspects are emphasized: locals or areas of training, academic programs, human resources, duration of training and it's time schedule, number of students and evaluation of the related social and preventive pediatric courses. They conclude pointing to the importance of these courses having in view the terminal performance of the undergraduate students after 1.155 hours of apprenticeship under the supervision of the Department of Pediatrics.