Luciana Dias de Lima

Política de saúde nos anos 90: relações intergovernamentais e o papel das Normas Operacionais Básicas

This papers examines the Brazilian health policy during the 90s with a effective focus in the challenge posed by the implementation of the Sistema Unico de Saude (SUS). Among the main conclusions the work underlines the new role of the local administrations ¾ effectively managing budgetary resources and instruments¾ nevertheless the huge problems emerging from the new rules of the system. The Federal Government, however, was empowered with new regulatory functions and could set up mechanisms to transfers responsibilities and resources to states and local government levels if these programs were linked to social activities. The decentralization program is governed by SUS operational rules, that are carried out in a country which federative model is still being defined and with a very centralized tax system.

Política de saúde e eqüidade

This article analyses the issue of equity in the area of health, particularly with regard to health care policy. It presents recent information on the allocation of financial resources and the supply and utilization of health care services throughout a selected group of municipalities in Brazil, and concludes that progress has been made in terms of equity since the establishment of SUS, particularly as reflected in the decentralization of health care policy.

Descentralização e federalismo: a política de saúde em novo contexto - lições do caso brasileiro

The article analyses the processes of decentralization and deconcentration, along with the new emergence of federalism, as global phenomena and meaningful tendencies in the reestructuring of the unitary and centralized State, built under the Napoleonic tradition. In the Brazilian case, in particular, the article identifies the different phases and problems that arose during the decentralization process and within the re-configuration of the federative pact since the 80s, and evaluates the implications of this new order on the recent reform processes of the health policy. Furthermore, the article presents the conditions and limitations of healthsystems decentralization, highlighting the risks to which it is submitted and taking into account unfavourable aspects of its context, characterised by federative conflicts and by the social and economic inequality inheritance.

Mudanças significativas no processo de descentralização do sistema de saúde no Brasil

This article discusses the trends and limits of the Brazilian health system decentralization process, identifying the three elements that constitute the strategic induction performed by the national system administrator in accordance with the guidelines contained in the Operational Norms of the Unified National Health System: systemic rationality, intergovernmental and service provider financing, and health care model. The effects of the Federal regulations are analyzed based on the results of the evaluation study focused on the implementation of the full management scheme at the Municipal level. The decentralization strategy induced by Basic Operational Norm 96 has succeeded in improving institutional conditions, management autonomy, and supply, as measured by the Federal resources transferred, installed capacity, production, and coverage of outpatient and hospital services, with the Municipalities authorized to conduct fully autonomous management, without altering the existing patterns of inequity in the distribution of funds to poorer Municipalities.

Condicionantes estruturais da regionalização na saúde: tipologia dos Colegiados de Gestão Regional

An explanation is required for the delay in implementing the regionalization strategy and the fragile nature of the combined decentralization and regionalization initiatives in Brazil. The article raises some hypotheses to clarify this intricate issue and reviews the structural conditioning factors of the regionalization process ongoing in the states. A national typology of the health care regions is prepared, differentiating them according to the degree of socio-economic development and the characteristics of the health care network and of the municipalities that form the Regional Management Boards (CGR), formally implanted by January 2010. Factorial and cluster analysis models were used to build the typology. Five major socio-economic groups of CGRs were identified, described according to their regional distribution, population, health care spending, profile of services offered (including the public-private sector mix) and health service coverage. The results obtained serve as guidelines for the constitution of health care networks and new initiatives at the regional level, in order to improve the regionalization policy and favour the construction of diverse and flexible regulatory instruments that are more in tune with the regional state of affairs.

Configuração da atenção básica e do Programa Saúde da Família em grandes municípios do Rio de Janeiro, Brasil

This article analyzes the organization of traditional Primary Health Care and the Family Health Program (FHP) in the 22 municipalities of Rio de Janeiro State, Brazil, with more than 100,000 inhabitants each in 2005. The methodology included visits to the municipalities, interviews with health managers, and analysis of national databases. Four summary variables were defined: the Primary Health Care model and inclusion of the FHP; institutionalization of the FHP; organization of traditional primary care; and organization of the FHP. Classification of the municipalities according to the four variables showed widely diverse situations and the predominance of a parallel model for inclusion of the FHP. The municipalities with the best structural conditions for primary care are located in the interior of the State, besides those that have had the FHP implemented for more than six years and that practice various modalities of Primary Health Care organization. The majority of the municipalities with the worst situation in relation to the FHP are located in Greater Metropolitan Rio de Janeiro. In light of the results, the article discusses the challenges facing the FHP as a strategy for structuring primary health care in large cities, particularly in metropolitan areas.

Conexões entre o federalismo fiscal e o financiamento da política de saúde no Brasil

In the Brazilian societys context of meager financial resources for health care, associated with structural features of fiscal federalism and with the current model of funding transfers for the Unified Health Systems (SUS), important inequities directly impact political negotiations and the deployment of federal financing alternatives which are not directly linked to the supply and production of health care activities and services by states and municipalities. We observed that health policies, since the second half of the nineties, have developed their own mechanisms that, in the above mentioned context, tend to accommodate different interests and federative conflicts generated by structural factors and by institutional rules. However, the absence of an integrated planning program between the criteria to establish resource redistribution for financing the Unified Health System and the Brazilian Federations fiscal sharing system, end up reinforcing certain asymmetric patterns and generating new imbalances, making the compensation of inequities difficult in public health spending at the sub-national domain.

Sistema de saúde universal e território: desafios de uma política regional para a Amazônia Legal

This article presents the results of a study on Federal health policy in the Brazilian Legal Amazon (BLA) from 2003 to 2005, aimed at backing the development of regional health policies. The region has peculiar dynamics, an extensive border area, and adverse social indicators. The methodology included documental and financial analysis, participatory observation, interviews with heads of various Federal Ministries and State and Municipal health secretaries from the BLA; characterization of geographic situations in the BLA; and field studies in 15 municipalities. Institutional consolidation of health policy proved to be low in the Amazon during the study period, due to structural, institutional, and political difficulties. The identification of six geographic situations was useful for systematizing land use differences with repercussions on health, and which should be considered when implementing public policies. There is a certain gap between Federal actions and territorial dynamics, expressed as a mismatch between the current policy and its recognition by local administrators. In addition to establishing a regional policy for the Amazon, there is an evident need for differentiated policies within the region.

Regionalização e acesso à saúde nos estados brasileiros: condicionantes históricos e político-institucionais

This article examines the healthcare regionalization process in the Brazilian states in the period from 2007 to 2010, seeking to identify the conditions that favor or impede this process. Referential analysis of public policies and especially of historical institutionalism was used. Three dimensions sum up the conditioning factors of regionalization: context (historical-structural, political-institutional and conjunctural), directionality (ideology, object, actors, strategies and instruments) and regionalization features (institutionality and governance). The empirical research relied mainly on the analysis of official documents and interviews with key actors in 24 states. Distinct patterns of influence in the states were observed, with regionalization being marked by important gains in institutionality and governance in the period. Nevertheless, inherent difficulties of the contexts prejudice greater advances. There is a pressing need to broaden the territorial focus in government planning and to integrate sectorial policies for medium and long-term regional development in order to empower regionalization and to overcome obstacles to the access to healthcare services in Brazil.

Saúde e territorialização na perspectiva do desenvolvimento

The relationship between health and development is complex and lies in the field of political economy, given that it involves different social, political, and economic interests. In the Brazilian case, this association is particularly relevant in terms of the territorial dimension, in light of the central role of healthcare services in the organization of the urban network and the demarcation of territorial schedules and limits. In the theoretical-conceptual field, this study explores analytical areas that approach the relations between health and development, as well as between health and the territorial issue; and analyzes the history of the decentralization and regionalization policy in the Unified National Health System (SUS) and Federal investments that constitute the basis for its spatial evolution. Based on this conceptual review and empirical data, the study attempts to establish theoretical and political-institutional connections between health and development. The aim is thus to support the discussion on challenges facing a new role for health in the Brazilian development model, historically marked by economic and social inequalities with strong territorial overtones.