[Notes for studying primary care within the context of segmented health systems]

This paper discusses the contribution of the concept of governance, combined with traditional approaches to primary health care (PHC) analysis, in a multicentre study covering Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay. Considering health systems’ variety of configurations and their segmented context, it aims to compare PHC implementation and performance characteristics in each country so as to explain them according to different determinants and compare them to governance models. Each country’s segmented context is presented, identifying public, private and social insurance sub-sectors’ arrangements. The PHC concept and its potential role in reorganizing equity- and access-based health systems are discussed. Five dimensions for PHC study are then defined: stewardship, financing, resources, comprehensiveness and intersectorality. Governance analysis revealed state-society relationships and is thus proposed as a tool for understanding such dimensions’ dynamic relationships.