An analysis of the profile of health secretaries: interfaces between health and political-electoral processes

Abstract

The present paper aims to systematize information on health leaders inserted in state and municipal  governments, to reflect on technical, academic and  political influences in shaping their trajectories,  seeking to contribute to the design an overview of  Unified Health System (SUS) management at  subnational bodies. The study is supported by  research from secondary sources, including official databases, government portals and commercial news.  Information from the secretaries of the 26 states and  their capitals, in addition to the Federal District, in  office in May 2021, was processed, generating 53  resumes, that were categorized as specialists (79%),  health professionals (75%), career politicians (25%)  and businesspeople (19%). Despite the significant  partisan influence, a process of formation of bureaucratic cadres by the parties was found, beyond  the electoral dispute. Of the thirteen career  politicians identified, eleven were also typified by the  analysis as ‘specialized’, questioning senses about the opposition between ‘technical’ versus ‘political’  profiles, suggesting the relevance of the intersections  of trajectories. An exceptionality of technical  insulation of health was not confirmed. Thus, the  image that political party forces are antagonistic to  academic training and experience in public  administration is unrealistic, suggesting that health is  simultaneously specialized and politicized.