title: Primary care in Brazil, and the Mais Médicos (More Doctors) Program in the Unified Health System: achievements and limits.
abstract: An historical analysis of Brazil's policies in Primary Healthcare, with emphasis on the Family Health Strategy (FHS), and the Mais Médicos Program (PMM). Studies were made of documents and secondary official data, and the bibliography that has been produced on this theme. It was found that primary healthcare has been established and successfully consolidated as an option in healthcare for a great part of the population of Brazil. There have, however, been structural hurdles, which have tended to compromise the effectiveness and sustainability of this policy. It was identified that these obstacles arise principally from insufficient financing and from inefficient modes of planning and management. The Mais Médicos Program has widened care coverage and made the distribution of primary healthcare doctors more equitable, although it has not resolved the structural problems of the public system.
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Saúde Coletiva, Faculdade de Ciências Médicas, Universidade Estadual de Campinas. R. Tessália Vieira de Camargo 126, Barão Geraldo. 13083-970 Campinas SP Brasil. gastaowagner@mpc.com.br.
authors.forename: Gastão Wagner de Sousa
authors.initials: GW
authors.lastname: Campos
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Saúde Coletiva, Faculdade de Medicina, Universidade Federal de Uberlândia. Uberlândia MG Brasil.
authors.forename: Nilton
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Pereira
mesh_terms: D001938:Brazil; D003695:Delivery of Health Care; D006078:Government Programs; D010820:Physicians / Q000600:supply & distribution*; D011320:Primary Health Care; D000078329:Workforce