Household-based population surveys are the gold standard for analyzing the health situation in modern societies. Institutes of Statistics around the world periodically carry out census surveys or sample studies to achieve this goal. Since 1998, and particularly in special issues in the first decade of the 2000s (7.4, 11.4, 16.9, 21.2), Revista Ciência & Saúde Coletiva has published the main results of Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE) research in the health area, conducted by means of the National Survey by Sample of Households (PNAD). In 2013 and 2019, the supplement branched out on its own and was renamed National Health Survey (PNS).

In this issue, a group of researchers, professionals and managers in the area of health provide us with a series of articles, which analyze the salient results of PNS-2019¹1 Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística (IBGE). Pesquisa Nacional de Saúde 2019. [acessado 2021 Maio 29]. Disponível em: https://www.ibge.gov.br/estatisticas/sociais/saude/9160-pesquisa-nacional-de-saude.html?=&t=o-que-e
https://www.ibge.gov.br/estatisticas/soc... with an emphasis on Primary Care.

Primary Care is the foundation for health systems that seek to obtain the benefits of universal access. In evaluative research with users and health professionals and managers conducted by Pinto & Hartz²2 Pinto LF, Hartz ZMA. Experiências em atenção primária em 25 anos da Revista Ciência & Saúde Coletiva: uma revisão de literatura. Cien Saude Colet 2020; 25(12):4917-4932., this thematic area was notable for the large amount of production of knowledge over the past 25 years.

In PNS-2019, which interviewed the residents of Brazilian households, the IBGE innovated and, for the first time in the history of PHC assessment in Brazil, included the short version of the instrument entitled Primary Care Assessment Tool (PCATool), highlighted by the aforementioned authors. The results revealed household population coverage in Brazil of 60% [58.9% - 61.1%] by the Family Health Strategy, with major local and regional differences that directly influence the greater or lesser access and use of services of the SUS.

An important highlight of this edition is the fact that it does not set out to exhaust all the possibilities of analysis and themes of the PNS-2019, which is research with multiple purposes and possibilities of geographic profiles, respecting the coefficients of variation estimated in each statistical domain.

Aknowledgments

Our special thanks to the IBGE, heritage of Brazilian science, for the inclusion of PHC in the PNS-2019.

References

Publication Dates