This work aimed to understand the main trends and challenges in the organization of primary health care (PHC) in South America, in the context of the processes of political changes in the last decade characterized by the arising to power of left politicians. This is a comparative study, based in the analysis of four cases - Brazil, Venezuela, Bolivia and Uruguay. The results points that the new political context in these countries moved the focus of policies to universal health care models and a comprehensive PHC. Despite the fact, that remain challenges related to the historical institutional context of each country to the consolidation of PHC as a strategy for structuring health systems.
Primary health care; Health System; South America