COMPREHENSIVE WOMEN'S HEALTH CARE IN PRIMARY HEALTH CARE: FOUNDATIONS, CHALLENGES, AND PERSPECTIVES FOR THE BRAZILIAN UNIFIED HEALTH SYSTEM

Abstract

This chapter discusses comprehensive women's health care in Primary Health Care as a strategic dimension for consolidating care practices guided by universality, comprehensiveness, equity, longitudinality, and care coordination within the Brazilian Unified Health System. It is a narrative literature review with a qualitative and descriptive-analytical approach, based on indexed scientific publications and recent institutional documents. The chapter aims to critically analyze how Primary Health Care can respond to women's health needs throughout the life course, overcoming models restricted to the maternal-child axis. The methodology relied on searches in national and international databases, followed by thematic screening, full-text reading, and analytical organization of findings into interpretive axes. The results indicate that the effectiveness of Primary Health Care depends on the concrete presence of attributes such as access, bonding, community orientation, multiprofessional work, and intersectoral articulation. However, challenges remain regarding fragmented care, the low density of health promotion actions, barriers to access, and weak institutional responses to gender-based violence. It is concluded that strengthening Primary Health Care remains essential to expand comprehensive care, reduce inequities, and ensure rights within the Brazilian health system.