INTEGRALIDADE NAS POLÍTICAS PÚBLICAS DE SAÚDE

Introduction: integrality, as a principle of the Unified Health System, indicates desirable attributes to the precepts of health and the improvement of the techniques that are performed. Objective: to critically reflect, in a historical perspective, on the integrality in Public Health Policies in Brazil and its application in the practice of care. Method: reflective essay, based on a narrative review about the historical context, in which integrality is inserted and the challenges to be overcome so that it can be established in the care practices. Results: the text covers a brief history of Public Health Policies with regard to integrality and how it applies in health practices. Conclusion: integrality in health care in the context of the Brazilian Unified Health System is in full development and requires constant reflection on the approximations to be made in the practical sense, because every day, the actors involved in this process appropriate the need to achieve this principle.