OBJECTIVE: this article presents a study of the Implementation of the Policy for Monitoring and Evaluation of Primary Health Care in Brazil. The extent of implementation of the institutional mechanisms and of the intervention are estimated and their influence on the effects produced analyzed in its political and organizational context. METHODS: implementation analysis-type evaluative research was carried out, involving a case study with overlapping levels of analysis and triangulation of methods. To estimate the degree of implementation, the institutional mechanism produced representing the components of the logical intervention model were taken into account. Twenty interviews were conducted and 29 related documents analyzed. RESULTS: the intervention was classified as an advanced stage of implementation, with 78% of actions already carried out. The political and institutional context were characterized as a conjunction of political institutional decision making, financial resources, technical and strategic organizational mechanisms for staff training in evaluation with a view to institutional capacity-building. A significant set of non-intentional effects were discovered owing to the number of mechanisms used to implementation of the intervention. CONCLUSIONS: great efforts have been made to integrate actions at institutional level and to decentralize evaluation. This has two striking features: the development of technical capacity through processes of formative evaluation and strengthening State Health Departments.
Health evaluation; Primary health care
