Expanding health access in the more vulnerable region in the state of São Paulo, Brazil: is this a reflection of the Mais Médicos (More Doctors) Program?

Abstract

The Mais Médicos (More Doctors) Program seeks to broaden access to health by providing medical professionals, investments in health units and multi-professional integration geared to the Family Health Strategy. Vale do Ribeira includes 25 cities and is among the most vulnerable regions in São Paulo. It has been allocated 41 physicians from the Program. This study is to evaluate access to health, comparing health indicators before and after the Program. We collected data from DATASUS, SIAB, and the Ministry of Health. There was a marked increase in the number of appointments for infants under one year of age, adults, the elderly, STD/HIV patients and group patient care. There was a decrease in appointments outside the catchment area, as well as hospital admissions for other causes, mothers exclusively breastfeeding their infants up to four months. We concluded that after deployment of the Program, there was an increase in health access and health promotion focused on an area that presents an enormous challenge for Primary Health Care (PHC). It would seem that, since this is a high vulnerability area with a large area for care, hospital admissions for PHC care-sensitive conditions, as well as referrals for secondary services, did not decrease.

Key words
Family and community medicine; Access to health services; Social vulnerability; Primary health care