Federal governance in building the policy to combat the COVID-19 pandemic in Brazilian primary health care

Abstract

This article aims to describe and analyze the process of federal agreement of the policy to combat the COVID-19 pandemic within the scope of primary health care (PHC). This is a policy analysis study for which exploratory documentary research was conducted seeking to identify the records of debates and official publications of the Ministry of Health on policies/guidelines related to management and work in PHC throughout the pandemic. In the light of the governance framework in public policies, content analysis of the findings was carried out. The debate on the topic was identified in 23 official meetings, mostly in the management sphere, with fewer scientific and popular participation spaces. With respect to the contents of the 34 ministerial publications, only 15 had been previously discussed with other institutional representations. Not only due the lack of propensity for debates, but also because of the contradictions and absences perceived when integrating the content of discussions and official publications, there was a clear lack of central coordination, as well as the rupture of the federative pact and hierarchization of the historical model of governance in networks in the Unified Health System, induced by the authoritarian and denialist agenda of the Presidency of the Republic.

Key words:
Governance in health; Primary health care; COVID-19