The organization of Primary Care in Brazil

Abstract

Multiple aspects related to policy-making, knowledge building and implementation of care practices interact mutually in the health sector. The product of these interactions is the way health services are provided in a certain historical context or still the availability or lack of a determinate set of health actions and services. To understand these relations is pivotal for evaluating the course the health policies took in our country. In Brazil, the emergence and consolidation of the basic network engaged in Primary Care occurred with the creation of a permanent network of Health Centers. This paper analyzes the historical trajectory of these services, taking as a reference their organizational and assistance principles, their expansion in terms of physical growth and their function within the Public Health System. Finally, the main trends in Primary Care in the today’s context of the Unified Health System (Sistema Único de Saúde-SUS) are described from the organizational viewpoint and from the perspective of its functions and funding.