Convergences between primary health care planning and the Sustainable Development Goals: an evaluation of municipal health plans in Brazil and Chile

Abstract

This study addresses the importance of Primary Health Care (PHC) to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), assessing convergences between two municipal PHC agendas and the 2030 Global Agenda. For this purpose, the PHC actions included in the municipal health plans of Santiago, Chile, and São Paulo, Brazil, were evaluated by content analysis. Results showed that the PHC actions planned in Santiago contributed to 14 SDGs while in São Paulo, the actions contributed to the entire 2030 Agenda, although both plans lacked references to the SDGs. Thus, the PHC actions provided in municipal agendas are essential to achieve the SDGs. However, this relationship is not adequately reported, which can compromise the investment of greater resources in this sector. Therefore, a greater alignment between local, national, and global action plans and policies is required, as well as integrated and continuous training for communities and health teams and a greater use and diffusion of technologies already available in regional and intersectoral approaches to municipal health plans.