Primary health care and urban dynamics in large cities in Sao Paulo State, Brazil

The Baseline Studies on the Project for Expansion and Consolidation of the Family Health Strategy created primary health care indicators and models for the 62 municipalities with more than 100,000 inhabitants in Sao Paulo State, Brazil, and identified varying patterns for these indicators and models in relation to different urban dynamics in the State. The studies showed the need to reflect on health in relation to urban land use. The main objective was to gain a better understanding of how urban dynamics influence the health system's profile, organization, and operation, based on which it was possible to extract some hypotheses and discussions regarding how urbanization in Sao Paulo State creates challenges for the expansion and consolidation of primary health care and the Family Health Program in these municipalities.