Investment of financial resources for the procurement of medicines for primary care in Brazilian municipalities.

This study shows a descriptive data analysis related to the procurement of medicines for primary care in Brazilian municipalities, as recorded in the National database of Pharmaceutical Service Actions and Services for the period July 2013 - June 2014, by geographic region and population size. Nine hundred and sixty municipalities were analyzed, of which 27% invested monetary value equal to or greater than the minimum statutory recommendations and 43% of these are located in the Southeast. The North region has the highest number of municipalities with less investment. Municipalities with a population over 500,000 inhabitants used, on average, lower resources to provide more items to users. The average number of items purchased was 86 and represents 25% of the National List of Essential Medicines (Rename); 64% had a decentralized resource management and the most commonly used procurement method was "tender". The most purchased drugs are in line with the most prevalent primary care diseases. Findings showed that most municipalities invests below statutory recommendations and are located mainly in the North, Northeast and Midwest. It was not possible to establish a trend between population and amount invested per capita/year.