Coordenação Federativa e a Política Municipal de Saúde no município de Viçosa, MG.

This article deals with the federative coordination of health policy. The Brazilian federation established by the 1988 Constitution determined greater municipal autonomy, however, in the 1990s, there was a need for the federal government to coordinate certain public policies, with emphasis on health policy. This study proposes to analyze how the municipality of Viçosa, MG, positions itself, with regard to health policy, in the face of federative coordination exercised by the federal government. In order to fulfill the aim, a qualitative case study of the health policy of the municipality of Viçosa, MG, was carried out, with an indepth study being carried out. Three methods were used for data collection: interviews with 22 subjects, observation and document analysis, characterizing the sequenced triangulation of data collection techniques. From the collected data, content analysis was performed based on three categories: “Command”, “Autonomy”, and “Responsibility”. It is concluded that the municipal government reacts to the national guidelines, and that, due to the predominance of the federal government's induction, the reduced normative and financial autonomy and the lack of capacity of the municipal government to propose programs that are peculiar to the municipality of Viçosa, MG, the health demands assimilated by the public governance of the municipality are those determined and established by the federal government, compatible with the municipal needs, being the federal coordination determinant for the effective attendance of the municipal health demands. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]