Performance Based on the Evaluation of Primary Health Care Organizational Aspects of Municipalities in the State of Paraiba, Brazil, 2005

The Family Health Strategy has become the main type of organization of the primary health care services, as well as the best approach to strength local health systems in the State of Paraiba (Brazil), where the majority of its municipalities - 87% - has less than 20 thousand inhabitants, and therefore undertake mainly basic health actions. This is a descriptive, cross-sectional evaluation study, aiming to analyze the characteristics of primary health care organization in 15 municipalities in the State of Paraiba in 2005. The study evaluated the performance of these Municipalities according to the criteria used. The analysis considered the following sub-dimensions of primary health care organization: management methods and instruments; control and evaluation of primary health care mechanisms; personnel qualification; and strengthening of social control at the local level. Based on the criteria used for characterizing primary health care organization, municipalities were classified under the following categories: 'Satisfactory', 'Intermediate' or 'Unsatisfactory'. Only two out of the 15 municipalities had a satisfactory performance.