Atenção primária á saúde: Um ensaio sobre conceitos aplicados aos estudos nacionais

Abstract

Brazil is going through a normative guidance of the Ministry of Health in order to make a reform of Primary Health Care (PHC) oriented to the Family Health Strategy (FHS), with support of experts from educational and research institutions, to turn it into a resolutive gateway to the health system. This study assumes that the country still lives a context where there is no clear separation between specific roles of different types of health services. It aimed to provide evidence that the tendency to assess the PHC in Brazil, only by reference to the FHS, is limiting the accurate determination of the health services universe that potentially include the features internationally defined as inherent to the PHC. The aim is to also indicate alternative possibilities for analysis and application of its concepts to national studies. We conclude that if on one hand PHC concepts are well defined in the literature, there is evidence that its use is imperfect to some local contexts and there is a need for more consistent and rational approaches, able to identify the health services operating in line with the PHC and measure its essential attributes.