National primary care policy 2017: Analysis of teams composition and national coverage of family health

Abstract

The Family Health Strategy is the main form of organization of the Brazilian health sys-tem. However, the third edition of the National Primary Health Care Policy (PNAB) recognized other types of teams financially. A time series stu-dy was conducted from 2007 to 2019 using data from the National Register of Health Facilities (CNES) of jobs, teams and national coverage of Family Health to analyze the effects of the 2017 National Primary Health Care Policy (PNAB) on team composition. We observed the concen-tration of doctors in the Southeast and Northeast and variation of this professional category before the events of the “Mais Médicos” (More Doctors) Program. The number of nurses increased 5% and Community Health Workers (ACS) dropped 0.3% in the country. Despite the authorization and funding for the implementation of “Primary Care” teams (eAB), they correspond to less than 1% of the total teams. It is noteworthy that the municipal managers’ preferred mode is the tradi-tional Family Health Teams, equivalent to 75% of the total and growing. While the questionings and expectations generated by the 2017 PNAB in the context of Primary Health Care, we can conclude that, regarding the teams and their compositions, no significant change was identified two years into its coming into force.