More Family Health: reconstructing Primary Health Care

Currently, more than 53,000 Family Health teams are responsible for implementing Primary Health Care (PHC) in Brazil, developing coordinated actions for health promotion, prevention, treatment, recovery, and rehabilitation, with an approach centered on the family and community, the territory, and comprehensive care. The moment of reestablishment of Family Health as a priority strategy of the Unified Health System (SUS) was enacted by Ordinance GM/MS No. 3,493/2024, which establishes the new federal co-financing methodology and represents a milestone in its redesign. This article aims to discuss the resumption of Family Health as a central strategy for rebuilding PHC. Among the main advances are increased funding, with a reduced number of team members, the encouragement of expanded team coverage, the reactivation of the Mais Médicos Program and multidisciplinary and oral health teams, and the expansion of other access strategies, especially for vulnerable populations, such as the Riverside Family Health, Prison, and Street Clinic teams. This highlights that only with a strengthened PHC system can new milestones be envisioned in this significant civilizing policy that is the Unified Health System (SUS).