The study aimed to characterize the availability of medicines in public Primary Health Care facilities in Brazil and to identify its related organizational factors Using data from the National Program for Access and Quality Improvement in Primary Care (PMAQ-AB) were used. The outcome related to de availability of medicine, expressed in three different ways, was explored in relation to explanatory variables concerned to health facilities and pharmaceutical services organizational characteristics. We found an average of 58,5% of availability, which was also low in all population strata; there was a statistically significant association of the outcome variable with all the explanatory ones. The availability of medicine was low and inversely associated to the general organization of the health facility in general and to the pharmaceutical services.
Primary Health Care; Pharmaceutical service; Drug evaluation; National drug policy; Health evaluation