[The degree of implementation of the Family Health Program and social indicators].

Abstract

This research analyzes the relationship between social indexes and the implementation level of the Family Health Program (PSF) in cities of Santa Catarina State, Brazil. The social indexes applied were: total population, human development index (HDI), per capita expenses with health and political party at local administration. Findings have shown a strong relationship between the population number and the implementation of the PSF in the cities, with a higher number of smaller cities (up to 50,000 inhabitants) presenting a satisfactory or intermediate implementation level (p=0.0006). On the other hand, populous cities have presented a condition which is considered unsatisfactory for the PSF implementation. The HDI helped to detect a reverse correlation among the investigated factors (p=0.0264). This may be explained by the fact that the implementation has been put into practice mainly in small cities with scant aid resources. No correlation has been observed among the PSF implementation, the per capita expenses with health and the political group at local administration, suggesting that the isolated assessment of these indexes is not enough to understand the development of the public policies of the cities. Lastly, one may infer that local characteristics of the cities in which the program is implemented can interfere with the results, suggesting that changes and adaptations at city level are necessary to reach an adequate program implementation.