This article discusses how primary health care services may contribute towards men's acquisition of healthy lifes. This objective implies a discussion concerning health strategies focused on men as subjects and contemplating the multiple dimensions of their lives. The way in which health services are organized so as to attend users must be taken into consideration when developing these strategies. The bonds established between men and services and vice versa are also discussed. Gender and necessities of health are basic concepts utilized in the analysis of the practical experience in men's primary health care, undertaken at the Samuel B. Pessoa Health Care and Training Center, located within the Butanta neighborhood, in the city of Sao Paulo.
Men's health; necessities in health; gender; primary care