Abstract
Bioethics of protection is a tool which appeared in the scope of the applied ethics in Latin America, related initially to the existing moral conflicts in Public Health, approached from the dialogue with the consecrated tools of the bioethics, but enrolled in the context of the praxis of the Latin American actors, who, even though they have proper problems, share many of those of the globalized world, of the planet. To the traditional descriptive and normative functions of the applied ethics, the bioethics of protection proposes an additional function consisting in the "protection" with priority of individuals and harmed groups, in order to permit them to develop, if possible, their capabilities, necessary to their empowerment, i.e. necessary to a decent life in a conflagrated world, and, possibly, searching for rational and/or reasonable solutions. The bioethics of protection is not applied, therefore, to those affected that are able to live a decent life with their own means or those offered by effective institutions. This implies, beyond education and adequate health services, the recognition of the differences in the cultures, cosmovisions and habits as common patrimony of the Humanity.
