Between Alma-Ata and the brazilian sanitary reform: The national basic health services program (Prev-Saúde), 1979-1983

Abstract

The history of the National Basic Health Services Program (Prev-saúde) begins in 1979 with a joint effort involving the Ministries of Health, Social Security and Assistance, Interior, and Economy, as well as the Pan-American Health Organization. The objective was to reorganize basic health services in their connections with other levels of care. Internationally, it was part of the movement sparked by the International Conference on Primary Health Care in Alma-Ata in September 1978. Domestically, the program represented an accumulation of knowledge about the organization of services as well as a movement that was partially adapted to Brazilian health reform agenda. Prev-saúde was a set of health proposals that represented a technical consensus between bureaucracies and leaders of health reform.