Legislation on primary care in Brazilian Unified National Health System: document analysis

A reflection on Brazil's legislation for primary care helps understand the way health policy is implemented in the country. This study focuses on the legal provisions aimed at strengthening primary care, drawing on an analysis of documents from the Ministry of Health's priority actions, programs, and strategies. A total of 224 provisions were identified, in two groups of documents, so-called instituting provisions and complementary provisions. The former include the principles and guidelines of the Brazilian Unified National Health System (SUS) and also involve the expansion of actions. Financing was a quantitatively central theme, especially in the complementary provisions. The analysis led to reflection on the extent to which these strategies can induce linkage between health system managers and civil society in building a political project resulting in improvements and meeting the population's health needs.

Enacted Statutes; Executive; Health Policy