Care resignification in the pandemic context.

This essay discusses the care process of health professionals in the context of COVID-19 from the perspectives of psychoanalysis, under the prism of Donald Winnicott's transitional space, and of collective health, under the prism of the practical wisdom of José Ricardo Ayres, the micropolitics of live work in action by Emmerson Merhy, and prudent care by Ruben Mattos. It suggests elaborating a care perspective to propose a possible resignification of illness in a pandemic, where health is marked with calamity, health catastrophe, and suffering and anguish, whether in the body or subjectively. In this way, understanding the manifestation of care by health professionals in a pandemic context brought about with narcissistic and heroic meanings and feelings of impotence and helplessness contributes to elaborating a creative conception of care.

Federal transfers to municipalities through parliamentary amendments: implications for SUS funding.

The present article analyzes the transfers from parliamentary amendments by the Ministry of Health to municipalities to finance public health actions and services from 2015 to 2021. A descriptive and exploratory study was carried out with secondary data, including all Brazilian cities. Resources from amendments showed an increase, particularly from 2018 onwards, indicating the expansion of their relevance for financing SUS.

[Carlos Gentile de Mello: in defense of institutional medicine].

The article analyzes the trajectory and thought of Carlos Gentile de Mello highlighting his contributions to the political and social debate on health between the 1960s and 1980s. He discusses the interfaces between the developmental project and health and addresses the expansion of the privatizing model especially the effects of the model on medical practice and the health of the population. The article analyzes the contribution of Gentile's analysis to the debate on Public Health and Brazilian Health Reform in the 1970s, especially on the political and institutional conditions for the project of universalization.

[Meanings and uses of hunger in Brazil's political debate: recurrence and presence].

Hunger is a persistent and structural issue in Brazil, occupying space intermittently on the political agenda, especially in times of political crisis. But when does it become interesting to denounce hunger? Who enunciates the problem and how? The article discusses the different discursive uses and meanings associated with hunger in Brazil's political debate from 1986 to 2015 and sheds light for updating the debate since 2016. This is a policy analysis study that aims to back reflection on the strategies and objectives of recent public policies to fight hunger in Brazil.

"Whose baby is this?": challenges for homeless women's right to motherhood.

The experiences of homeless pregnant women create tensions in the public debate between individual guarantees and limits on State interventions. This article analyzes the scientific research on this issue, focusing on the biomedical, legal, and social arguments backing the positions in this debate. Based on an integrative review of Brazilian and international databases, the authors analyzed 21 studies and identified four propositions: Health risks for the woman and the fetus/child; Discourses on prenatal care; Rights of women and fetuses/children; and Meanings of motherhood.

Readings about developmentalist health and interpretations for the Brazilian health reform and public health.

In the Brazilian public health literature, an association has been drawn between the 1970s health reform movement and what has been called developmentalist health. By investigating the discourse of two sanitarians from the developmentalist period - Mario Magalhães da Silveira and Carlos Gentile de Mello - we seek to unpick how their status of "precursors" of the health reform was constructed, analyzing the interfaces between public health, developmentalist thinking, the strategy for the construction of the developmentalist health and the health reform. Without refuting the pioneering nature of the sanitarians' ideas, we argue that the Brazilian Unified Health System, Sistema Único de Saúde, was created not simply in continuation of developmentalist thinking.

Previne Brasil, the Agency for the Development of Primary Healthcare, and the Services Portfolio: radicalization of privatization policy in basic healthcare?

The essay analyzes documents produced by the Brazilian Ministry of Health in 2019 and 2020 for the reorganization of basic healthcare: the new financing policy (Previne Brasil), the Agency for the Development of Primary Healthcare (Law n. 13,958), the Services Portfolio, and complementary provisions. The objective was to understand how the projected changes in management roles and the healthcare model contribute to strengthening the public policy's mercantile logic.

[This elusive unknown quantity: reflections on the prescription of psychotropic drugs in early childhood].

The scope of this article is to study aspects related to prescription habits and the use of psychoactive drugs in early childhood. It takes as a starting point the bibliographical survey carried out on the BVS and Scielo databases on epidemiological and clinical research in Brazil regarding the use of psychotropic drugs in children under six years of age. Based on international literature, it highlights the increase in the number of children diagnosed with mental and behavioral disorders, as well as the respective prescription of psychotropic drugs.

Health policies in Brazil in times of contradiction: paths and pitfalls in the construction of a universal system.

This article analyzes the trajectory of national health policy in Brazil from 1990 to 2016 and explores the policy's contradictions and conditioning factors during the same period. Continuities and changes were seen in the policy's context, process, and content in five distinct moments. The analysis of the policy's conditioning factors showed that the Constitutional framework, institutional arrangements, and action by health sector stakeholders were central to the expansion of public programs and services, providing the material foundations and expanding the basis of support for the Brazilian Unified National Health System at the health sector level.

[Workforce management in Emergency Care Units: government strategies and profile of healthcare professionals].

In the late 2000s, the expansion of Emergency Care Units (UPAs) in Brazil's policy for provision of urgent healthcare included hiring a large contingent of health professionals. This article analyzes government strategies for workforce management and the profile of these professionals in the UPAs in the State of Rio de Janeiro, which has the largest number of such units in the country. The methods included document analysis, interviews with managers, and visits to the UPAs and interviews with coordinators, physicians, and nurses.

Interdependence between government levels in Brazilian health policy: the implementation of Emergency Care Units in the State of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

This article addresses policymaking related to Emergency Care Units (ECU) in the State of Rio de Janeiro between 2007 and 2013, duly identifying the relationships between the various levels of government in this process. It prioritized the context of policy formulation, the factors that motivated the inclusion and maintenance of ECUs on the state agenda and the process of how the policy was implemented in the state. The study was based on the literature that defines the agenda and implementation of public policies and on contributions from historic institutionalism.

[Congressional amendments to the Brazilian Federal health budget].

The public budget in Brazil has undergone significant changes since enactment of the 1988 Federal Constitution. Mechanisms for integration of planning activities and budget execution have been created, and Legislative participation in budgeting has increased. Congressional amendments appeared in this context.

[The role of states in mental health policy in Brazil].

This article examines the role of States in mental health policy in Brazil from 1990 to 2009. The methods included the use of an electronic questionnaire on State coordination of mental health in 24 Brazilian States, document review, and analysis based on official data. The results showed that the States use various strategies and tools to conduct mental health policy, especially in monitoring and services delivery.

[Health and territorialization from the perpective of development].

The relationship between health and development is complex and lies in the field of political economy, given that it involves different social, political, and economic interests. In the Brazilian case, this association is particularly relevant in terms of the territorial dimension, in light of the central role of healthcare services in the organization of the urban network and the demarcation of territorial schedules and limits. In the theoretical-conceptual field, this study explores analytical areas that approach the relations between health and development, as well as between health and the territorial issue; and analyzes the history of the decentralization and regionalization policy in the Unified National Health System (SUS) and Federal investments that constitute the basis for its spatial evolution.

Accreditation or accreditations? A comparative study about accreditation in France, United Kingdom and Cataluña.

This article analyzes the dynamics and changes in the accreditation process in three different places - France, UK and Cataluña (Spain) - based on documents about their health systems organizations, funding sources and regulations. The objective was to find out about the relevant aspects of the strategies of these countries' institutions that adapted accreditation to national circumstances in the healthcare policy arena. Although there are similarities in the basic approaches and standards used, there are different models of accreditation.

[Health policies in Brazil in the 2000s: the national priority agenda].

This article analyzes Brazilian national health priorities from 2003 to 2008 under the Lula Administration. The study included a literature review, document analysis, and interviews with Federal health administrators. Four priorities were identified on the national health agenda: the Family Health Program, Smiling Brazil, Mobile Emergency Services, and the Popular Pharmacy Program.

[National planning of health policy in Brazil: strategies and instruments in the 2000s].

This paper discusses the national planning of health policy between 2003 and 2010, in the light of the development of state planning in Brazil and Lula's administration. Firstly an historical overview is presented of the key moments for national planning, regarding its effects on health care. The governmental context is then described with a review of the strategies and instruments in health planning over recent years.

[Analysis of health legislation in the Brazilian National Congress (1990-2006)].

This article analyzes the submission of health policy bills by the Legislative and Executive Branches in the Brazilian National Congress, since 1990. The study analyzes the health legislation passed by the National Congress from 1990 to 2006. The bills were analyzed by type, authorship, review time, and thematic content, considering the political and institutional context.

State responsibility and right to health in Brazil: a balance of the Branches' actions.

The 1988 Federal Constitution set forth a new political-institutional moment in Brazil reasserting the Democratic State and defining a broad social protection policy including health as a social citizenship right. Since its promulgation, a great number of laws, ministerial decrees and administrative actions have attempted to make feasible the political project outlined in the Constitution. On the other hand, in the same period, the number of legal orders regarding health related demands has increased.

[Family development index: a comparative analysis in 21 municipalities in Rio de Janeiro State, Brazil].

This article presents an adaptation of the family development index, with a detailed description of the results of its application in 21 municipalities in the State of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in 2000. The research is part of the Baseline Study on the Project for Expansion and Consolidation of the Family Health Strategy and was proposed as an instrument for monitoring and analyzing the municipal reality in the context of a family-centered public policy. The results show a serious-to-severe situation for families in the State of Rio de Janeiro.

[The mental health care model in Brazil: a history of policy development from 1990 to 2004].

This article analyzes the underlying conditions in the development of Brazil's national policy for mental health care from 1990 to 2004, with the aim of identifying the priorities in each historical stage of the policy, based on a review and analysis of rulings and other official documents issued by the Ministry of Health during this period. Four stages in the mental health care policy are discussed, the seminal period, latency, resumption, and expansion, seeking to identify the principal policy guidelines and their correlations with the overall context of the Unified National Health System (SUS). Finally, the article provides an overview of the mental health care model developed under this policy, comparing it to the Basaglian theoretical and ideological framework, the reference adopted by the Brazilian psychiatric reform movement, and suggesting elements for reflection on the work of the National Division of Mental Health.

[Universal health systems and territory: challenges for a regional policy in the Brazilian Legal Amazon].

This article presents the results of a study on Federal health policy in the Brazilian Legal Amazon (BLA) from 2003 to 2005, aimed at backing the development of regional health policies. The region has peculiar dynamics, an extensive border area, and adverse social indicators. The methodology included documental and financial analysis, participatory observation, interviews with heads of various Federal Ministries and State and Municipal health secretaries from the BLA; characterization of geographic situations in the BLA; and field studies in 15 municipalities.

[Analysis of rulings by the Brazilian Ministry of Health and reflections on national health policy management].

Ministry of Health rulings and provisions are important policy regulation tools that aim to orient the enforcement of health-related laws passed by the Legislative Branch, under the terms of the 1988 Federal Constitution. Such provisions have played a major role in the health sector, due not only to the number of documents submitted since the late 1990s, but mainly because of this tool's persuasive power in defining health sector policy. The current article aims to foster reflection on both national health policy management in Brazil and the main obstacles to the implementation of health reform operational aspects.

[Research for decision-making: a case study in Brazil].

This article analyzes the experience of the relationship between researchers and decision-makers in a study based on the hypothesis that this relationship would favor the incorporation of research results in health policy implementation. The attempt was made to identify elements that affect the relationship according to different policy and research phases, with an emphasis on the appropriation of the results by the decision-makers. It was shown that this research model per se does not guarantee the incorporation of the results, since variables related to the political/institutional context, the decision-makers' profile, and the forms of relationship played a preponderant role in this case.