Regionalization and human development: a typology of health regions in Brazil

This article aimed to present a proposal for characterizing health regions in Brazil based on human development, contributing to the identification of comparable geographic areas for observation, analysis, and monitoring of performance in regionalized health systems. The dimensions of the Municipal Human Development Index were calculated for the health regions by aggregating data from municipalities, weighted by population size. The grouping of health regions in 5 groups, based on combinations of life expectancy, income, and schooling, was determined by the K-Means method. Approximately half of Brazil's health regions were classified as type 1 and the other half as types 3 to 5. The typology provides a clustering model for homogeneous health regions, consistent with the theoretical assumptions of PROADESS. The choice of well-established indicators and aggregation methods tends to facilitate their comprehension and use by the actors involved in the administration of the Brazilian Unified National Health System (SUS).