Family and community medicine and family health in Brazil: a strategy to provide primary health care for all

Health policies that spawned the design of the health systems in Brazil were undertaken with strong civil society participation. This is the case of the Family Health Strategy, based on the basic principles of the Brazilian Single Health System (SUS): universality, equity and integration, in the context of decentralization and social control of health administration. This review focuses on the SUS milestones and its institutional mission, delving into what is meant by family health and describing how family medicine and community and family health have been a strategy to provide primary health care for all.