The idea of this supplement was gestated within the Post-Graduation Program in Public Health at the Sergio Arouca National School of Public Health of the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (Ensp/Fiocruz). It was born from unpretentious conversations, between sips of coffee, during which we reflected about the importance of the scientific production in the areas of Policies, Planning, and Management in the field of public health, as well as the need to give visibility to the production of neophytes researchers, in an attempt to freshen up knowledges, ideas, and speeches.

The option to do it in the journal 'Saúde em Debate' (Health in Debate), from the Centro Brasileiro de Estudos em Saúde -Cebes (Brazilian Center for Health Studies), came up as both natural and well-timed, once, since its creation in 1976, the journal´s main goal has been to foment critical thinking in health, through the dissemination of theoretical productions articulated with the universal right to health and its correlates. We understand, therefore, that the historic mission of the journal is intertwined with the consolidation of public health and particularly the areas of policies, planning, and management as fields of knowledges and practices, focusing on the health systems and services, committed to social transformation and to the formulation of alternatives to improve the living and health conditions of the population.

Since the earliest stages, it became clear that it was essential to perform an open call for articles, which would allow the submission of papers from various educational and research institutions in public health in Brazil.

Thus, this issue contains original articles, essays, and reviews derived from dissertations and theses produced in 12 different academic post-graduate programs in the country. It involves 64 authors affiliated with 32 institutions located in different management levels and regions of Brazil and with 2 foreign ones. It is noteworthy that some authors have different links and that many of those who were still students at the time of the study are now included in the job market, clashing with the challenge of translating the academic reflection into best practices in the management and production of care in health.

The papers that are here published were completed from January 2011 to March 2015, and many of them express the dilemmas and achievements of the SUS(Unified Health System) in the political and economic context prevailing at the time. On the one hand, the aspects analyzed in these studies come up reversed and added of new events, such as the introduction of the zika virus and the changes in the political-institutional environment that put into question the universal right to health in Brazil. On the other hand, this publication coincides with the happening of the XV National Health Conference that allowed to renew reflections and expand the political and social bases of support for the implementation of theSUS in an adverse environment.

One hundred and forty-nine articles were received from all over Brazil, which, through the work developed by the team of invited editors, underwent assessment (peer review), revised by the authors and, after approval, carefully selected to integrate this special supplement of the journal. The topics discussed, examined from different approaches and methodological lenses, have a coverage that goes from the international to the national scenario, involving aspects of both the macro and the micromanagement. The richness and diversity of the field are illustrated in analyzes that embrace the relations between the State, society, health policies and systems, and the forms of organization and delivery of health care.

We hope you enjoy reading.

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