Primary health care in SUS: the process of building a national policy (1990 - 2006)

Abstract

The article deals with the context of the establishment of the Nova República, until 2006, when the country's first National Primary Care Policy is published. In economic, political and social terms, the time frame is characterized by expectations and difficulties in implementing democracy and social policies capable of facing the social conditions bequeathed by the authoritarian regime. As part of the efforts to produce responses to the medical and sanitary problems of the populations, this period sees the emergence, under a renewed institutional configuration, of actions and policies in the field of Primary Health Care. In about two decades, we see consolidating both the formation of actors with identity with PHC, such as the formulation of the first national policy. The text identifies the paths that led to the consolidation of SUS, rescuing the central role of the Brazilian Sanitary Reform in this process; portrays the path of creation of the Programa de Agentes Comunitários de Saúde and the Programa de Saúde da Família. Finally, informed by the construction of such initiatives, it comprises the formulation of the first National Primary Care Policy (PNAB) with a focus on identifying the main actors and political mobilizations necessary for its implementation.