Organization of Primary Health Care in cities belonging to Project for Expansion and Consolidation of the Family Health Strategy in Mato Grosso State, Brazil

This article presents part of the results from the Baseline Study on the PROESF. The objective was to evaluate primary health care in the cities of Cuiaba, Varzea Grande, and Rondonopolis, Mato Grosso State, Brazil, based on the inter-subjectivity in human relations ( among health workers, users of health services, and the public at large and within institutionalized levels of social control). A qualitative and quantitative methodology was used, including interviews with key informants; short meetings with managers; focal groups with managers; and interviews with users and health professionals from pre-selected health units. Scores were assigned to all the questions that indicated participatory processes in primary care practices in the various municipalities. Despite the geopolitical identity among the municipalities and their similar access to the same public policies, there was a significant difference in their performance of the functions pertaining to the organization of primary care and the Family Health Program, in terms of portal of entry into the system, longitudinality, comprehensiveness, and coordination. Differences were observed in the type of relations that were established ( participatory versus non-participatory), corresponding to the previous difference.