Acupuncture in Brazil's Unified Health System - an analysis based on different health management tools.

The integration of Integrative and Complementary Practices into public health systems has been the subject of national and international debate. In Brazil, the National Policy on Integrative and Complementary Practices guides the integration of acupuncture into the Unified Health System (UHS). This article explored the availability and/or accessibility of acupuncture in the UHS in 26 municipalities in the XIII Health Region of the State of São Paulo between 2001 and 2011, based on the analysis of Municipal Health Plans, Annual Management Reports and complementary data obtained from Information Systems.