From the theory to the formulation of a National Policy of Evaluation in Health: Reopening the debate

Abstract

This article proposes a theoretical and operational reflection, to be enriched by the invited debaters, about the significance of institutionalizing evaluation from the perspective of public management, by introducing a "culture" of evaluation in the routine of primary care as guiding element for a health care policy. The discussion is oriented by a summary revision of the literature contextualizing two previous debates that focalized the Institutionalization of Evaluation in Health and Primary Care. The article defends the principle that evaluation only aggregates value when the knowledge and information it produced come to generate institutional and professional improvement. Furthermore, it approaches the need for a broad range of tools including political-institutional decision-making, financial resources, technical mechanisms and organizational strategies for the qualification of human resources, adapted to the specific needs arising from the decentralization process of the primary health care management and other directives and principles of the Unified Health System-SUS.