Reflections on the process of municipalization of healthcare policies: the issue of political and administrative discontinuity

Political and administrative discontinuity is a phenomenon within the Brazilian political system, notably in the municipal sphere. Through the efforts towards decentralization and municipalization that were defined by the 1988 constitution, the process of health policy implementation has been affected by discontinuity. This has causing damage, including delays and interruptions in non-formal education programs that are important for promoting empowerment. As a proposal for reflection, a model for conducting primary surveys in municipalities is presented here. Four factors are considered in this model: electoral, technical, interinstitutional and political-institutional. These factors refer to policy organization at the levels of governability and governance. The objective of this essay was to contribute towards understanding the phenomenon of political and administrative discontinuity observed in Brazilian municipalities since the implementation of the Brazilian Health System (SUS).

Municipalization; Political and administrative discontinuity; SUS