The town of Varzea Grande, in the State of Mato Grosso, has adopted the full management of primary care (Gpab) and subsequently the extended management of primary care (Gpaba), and is in charge of the low and intermediate complexity procedures concerning health surveillance (Visa). This article describes and analyzes the process of decentralization of Visa in that town, based on a qualitative study of documents and interviews. Given the organization of the Visa services, this study detected: structural deficiencies; little growth (qualitative and quantitative) and investment in human resources; lack of understanding of the use of financial resources; development of activities unrelated to the managerial guideline; lack of planning and evaluation of the activities. In Varzea Grande, the expected effects from the decentralization concerning Visa are still not visible. Although the research has focused on a medium-sized town in the interior of Brazil, it is believed that the results may be widely seen in hundreds of municipalities with similar size. The situation reported emphasizes the need for better technical and political support both of the state (Visa) and the federal governments (Anvisa), besides social control to leverage the local services of health surveillance.
health surveillance; health policy; Unified Health System (SUS); decentralization; national health surveillance system
