Prevenção Quaternária: Ética Médica, Avaliação e Eficiência nos Sistemas de Saúde

Quaternary Prevention as main focus and practice, promotes changes in developing health care and practicing medicine, prioritizing the person centred care.Their conceptual framework is sustained on ethical and philosophical aspects essential to medicine practice, in epistemological aspects of social and others related to political nature. Its objective is to protect fundamentally the patients, but also the members of the health group from excessive medicalization and unnecessary and hurtful practices. The present article is the result of the synthesis of the work documents, discussion and proposals carried forward by a large group of committed professionals from CIMF, with particular interest in Quaternary Prevention. The materials were produced in collaboration through a complex long distance work process, done during preparatory forums of the VI Ibero-American Summit of Family And Community Medicine. The work documents made during the same summit in San Joseof Costa Rica, in April 2016 were added to this material. The purpose of this document is to spread the state of development and current commitment to this approach and the outstanding initiative that it has had in Ibero America in the last five years. Due to its relevance, the intention is to stimulate greater dissemination of the concept; the implementation of content related to at in the training and academic levels. At a political level, to promote its consideration on decision making and public health issues so as to broadcast to demographic levels and promote the making of quality content. Finally to offer reflection clues to consider and concrete application tools.