Research was carried out into 1,141 agreements made by the State Health Department of S. Paulo State, Brazil, and which were in force during the first semester of 1987. An analysis was made of the objectives of the agreements and the entities with which they were made and of the potentialities of the agreements as such as tools for the execution of public health policies as well as of the need for an organizational answer on the part of the State Health Department for the definition, follow-up and control of the agreements. Some patterns of action with a view to increasing the efficacy of the activities agreed on, for the improvement of the budgetary and financial expressions of the administration by means of agreements, on the overall basis of comprehensive planning of health actions, are recommended.
Public health administration; Health planning; State health plans; Management; Decentralization
