Banca de QUALIFICAÇÃO: MARCIA ANDREIA PEREIRA DA SILVA

Paths for the implantation and implementation of the VII Regional Public Health Unit of Rio Grande do Norte: advances and challenges

Regionalization; Health; Regional Health; Implementation; Implantation.

In the state of Rio Grande do Norte, based on the Master Plan for Regionalization implemented in 2008, eight Health Regions were created. With a view to supervising, coordinating and advising the health services belonging to the municipalities that make up these Regions, the Regional Public Health Units (URSAP) were implemented, being considered regionalized administrative structures. Therefore, this work aims to analyze the contributions of the VII Regional Public Health Unit (VII URSAP) in the process of supporting the municipalities of the 7th Health Region. This is a descriptive study, with a qualitative approach, which applied an electronic questionnaire, semi-structured interview and document analysis. Data were analyzed according to the thematic content analysis technique, proposed by Laurence Bardin. From the results found, it was possible to identify the course, performance and main difficulties in the creation and implementation of the VII URSAP, including its work process, articulation with the municipalities and main actions carried out in the perspective of strengthening the territories of the municipalities of the 7th Health Region. The participants' speeches showed greater involvement in the actions of the VII URSAP, which is aimed at strengthening the role of Health Surveillance in the territory and the performance of Primary Health Care in the indicators of Previne Brasil. The results obtained in this study point to the need to strengthen the number of personnel, the physical structure, the spaces of governance, as well as the integration of the VII URSAP with the technical areas of the Secretary of State for Public Health of Rio Grande do Norte, with a focus on in effective communication with municipalities. Such improvements are intended to strengthen the performance of the Regional Health at all levels of health care, as well as to consolidate the principles of the Unified Health System.