Fiocruz holds international seminar on evidence and perspectives for the strategic management of PHC
The Sergio Arouca National School of Public Health (ENSP/Fiocruz) will hold on 8 and 9 June 2026, the International Seminar 'Evidence and Perspectives for the Strategic Management of Primary Health Care'. The event will take place from 9:00 to 16:30 at the Ground Floor Auditorium of ENSP/Fiocruz, in Rio de Janeiro and will be held in Portuguese and Spanish with simultaneous interpretation.
Registration will be open from 21 May to 7 June via the Fiocruz Virtual Campus: Register here (Portuguese language, in-person attendance only). The event will also be broadcast on the ENSP YouTube channel in Portuguese and Spanish, with no registration required.
The event is promoted by the Strategic Studies in Primary Health Care Project (EEAPS/ENSP/Fiocruz), in partnership with the PAHO/WHO Collaborating Centre for Training and Strategic Development for Health Systems with an emphasis on PHC (BRA-97, ENSP/Fiocruz), the SUS Observatory (ENSP/Fiocruz), and The Global Health Network Latin America and the Caribbean (TGHN LAC).
The seminar will bring together researchers, managers, professionals, and representatives from national and international institutions to discuss evidence, experiences, and perspectives related to the strategic management of Primary Health Care (PHC). The programme is organised around central themes for the strengthening of PHC and health systems, such as evaluation culture, monitoring, relations among managers, access, equity, innovation, integration, and care coordination.
The programme will open with the keynote lecture "Primary care in the contemporary landscape of health systems", delivered by Frederico Guanais, Deputy Director of the Health Division of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).
This will be followed, at 10:30, by the panel "Evaluation culture and monitoring processes: evidence for strengthening PHC". Participants will include Gisela Cardoso, from the Sergio Arouca National School of Public Health at the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (ENSP/Fiocruz), who will chair the panel; Paulo Jannuzzi, from the National School of Statistical Sciences at the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (ENCE/IBGE); and Cristian Morales Fuhrimann, from the Pan American Health Organisation (PAHO), with moderation by Angela Casanova, from ENSP/Fiocruz. The panel will address tools, experiences, and processes aimed at strengthening the culture of evaluation in PHC, with emphasis on information systems, priority indicators, participatory methodologies, performance assessment, and the use of data for continuous improvement.
Still on 8 June, from 14:00 to 16:30, the programme will continue with the panel "Processes, practices, and relations among managers at different levels in PHC", chaired by public health researcher Lilian Miranda, from ENSP/Fiocruz, with the participation of Aparecida Linhares Pimenta, coordinator of the Walter Leser Institute at the Foundation School of Sociology and Politics of São Paulo; and Rafael Ruiz Riera, Director of the Primary and Community Care Strategy at the Department of Health of the Generalitat de Catalunya, Spain. Moderation will be by Juarez Pereira Furtado, Associate Professor in the Department of Public Policy and Collective Health at the Federal University of São Paulo (Unifesp).
The discussion will explore the challenges of co-management, coordination, and federative cooperation in PHC, drawing on the trajectory of institutional support in Brazil and international experiences of decentralisation and intergovernmental coordination in health systems.
On the second day, 9 June, from 9:00 to 12:00, the panel "Equity and innovation in access to PHC: tackling barriers and building on progress" will be chaired by ENSP researcher Vera Lucia Luiza. Participants will include Patty Fidelis de Almeida, lecturer and researcher at the Institute of Collective Health, Federal Fluminense University (UFF); and James Fitzgerald, Director of Health Systems and Services at the Pan American Health Organisation/World Health Organisation (PAHO/WHO), participating remotely. Moderation will be by Mirna Barros Teixeira, researcher at ENSP/Fiocruz.
The panel will discuss barriers and opportunities for ensuring universal, timely, and equitable access to PHC, considering socioeconomic, territorial, and institutional inequalities, as well as dimensions of access from the perspective of service managers, professionals, and users.
Closing the seminar programme on 9 June, from 13:30 to 16:30, the panel "Integration and care coordination: the strategic role of PHC in health care networks" will take place. Participants will include Gisele O'Dwyer, researcher at ENSP/Fiocruz and panel chair; Fabiano Guimarães, from the Brazilian Society of Family and Community Medicine; and Amparo Susana Mogollón-Pérez, lecturer and researcher at the School of Medicine and Health Sciences, Universidad del Rosario, Colombia. Moderation will be by Catia Oliveira, researcher at the Centre for Technological Development in Health (CDTS/Fiocruz).
The discussion will address strategies and organisational arrangements aimed at integrating levels of care, strengthening person-centred care, and consolidating the coordinating role of PHC within Health Care Networks.
By bringing together different institutional, academic, and managerial perspectives, the seminar seeks to contribute to the circulation of evidence, experiences, and reflections aimed at strengthening Primary Health Care. The initiative reaffirms PHC as a structural axis of health systems and as a strategic dimension for building more integrated, equitable, and sustainable responses to the health needs of the population.
Agenda
International Seminar 'Evidence and Perspectives for the Strategic Management of Primary Health Care'
Date: 8 and 9 June 2026
Time: 9:00 to 16:30
Venue: Ground Floor Auditorium, Sergio Arouca National School of Public Health (ENSP/Fiocruz), Rio de Janeiro Registration: 21 May to 7 June, via the Fiocruz Virtual Campus – access here (Portuguese only)
Live stream: ENSP YouTube channel