ABSTRACT
The National Pharmaceutical Care Policy (Política Nacional de Assistência Farmacêutica - PNAF) is defined by the National Health Council as essential to the realization of the constitutional right to health. It is a cross-cutting and intersectoral policy that coordinates state and municipal managers at different levels of care in the Unified Health System (SUS). The objective was to identify and analyze the aspects of Pharmaceutical Care (PC) in the fight against COVID-19 in the state of São Paulo from the perspective of local and regional SUS managers, based on the PNAF. This is a mixed-method, multiple-case study with structured quantitative questionnaires and semi-structured qualitative interviews. Responses were obtained from 255 municipal managers (39.5%), representing 29,039,968 inhabitants (65.4% of the state population), and 14 regional health directors (82% of the Health Regions). This study identifies and analyzes ‘What are the contributions of the PNAF to addressing the COVID-19 pandemic in the state of São Paulo?’ The results revealed: joint action by federal entities, decentralization of PC, access to and rational use of medicines, irrational use of medicines from the COVID kit, tensions between managers, prescribers, pharmaceutical professionals and users, and supply difficulties.
