Health Planning in Brazilian municipalities: an investigation into the registration status of instruments and convergence with the DANT Plan.
Health Planning. Unified Health System (SUS). Health Management.
Health planning is essential for the organization and management of services, ensuring continuous improvement in public care. In Brazil, the Unified Health System (SUS) requires specific instruments, such as the Municipal Health Plan (PMS) and management reports, to monitor and plan municipal actions. This study, composed of quantitative and qualitative approaches, investigated the registration status of health planning instruments in Brazilian municipalities and analyzed the alignment of the PMS of Brazilian capitals with the goals of the Action Plan to Combat Chronic Noncommunicable Diseases (DANT Plan) 2021-2030. In the quantitative analysis, based on data from 5,563 municipalities, collected in the Strategic Management Support Room (SAGE), two clusters were identified: Cluster 1, which brought together 60.6% of the municipalities, presented better performance in relation to the registration status of the planning instruments; and Cluster 2, which included 39.4% of the municipalities, with lower performance in this aspect. In both clusters, it was observed that documents related to monitoring had lower approval percentages than documents of a more propositional nature. In particular, 65.1% of the municipalities in Cluster 2 did not approve any of the Detailed Reports for the Previous Four-Month Period planned for the period. The municipal typology and the degree of urbanization were not associated with any of the clusters identified, but the geographic macro-region was. In the qualitative analysis, the PMS of 24 Brazilian capitals were examined, for the four-year period 2022-2025. This assessment was made in light of the “DANT goals”, selected from the DANT Plan. Among the nine goals investigated, three were not contemplated (as a goal or objective). The DANT goal most addressed in the PMS was the reduction of premature mortality. Worrying gaps were found in the definition of goals related to the prevention of eating habits. Discrepancies were also identified between the situational analysis and the proposed goals/objectives of the PMS, regarding the goals established in the DANT Plan. A frequent finding was the apparent mismatch between the situational diagnosis of the PMS and the proposals included in these documents, in relation to the DANT goals. Taken together, the results point to weaknesses in municipal health planning, suggesting the need for initiatives to strengthen this process, which encompasses issues such as technical support, qualification of managers and social control, and can directly affect the effective implementation of public health policies.