O programa Primeiro Emprego na Pandemia: desafios da Escola de Saúde Pública da Bahia Professor Jorge Novis

The Programa Primeiro Emprego (PPE) is currently responsible for the formal hiring of about 1,200 young people at the Health Department of the State of Bahia (SESAB). These opportunities are settled in more than 80 health units and distributed in 35 municipalities. However, the public health emergency scenario generated by the new coronavirus brought the need to evaluate and adapt the actions of the Coordenacao de Integracao da Educacao e do Trabalho (CIET), at the School of Public Health, which assumes the role of ordering vacancies of internships and formal contracting of PPE at SESAB. Thus, it was necessary to promote a reflection on the new reality to outline coping and support strategies. The experience was revisited through documentary consultation of information sources of the PPE instituted from 2015 to 2020. The challenges faced by the Program in this period were lack of human resources in SESAB framework, incompatibility between the offer of undergraduate students and the demand for health services, the interruption of the internship of Junior College degree, and a requirement for qualification of professionals in the pandemic. During the pandemic, the Program stood out not only as a social program, but also as an important support of human resources for the health sector. Besides, guaranteeing temporary jobs capable of providing these individuals with technical capacity within the area of their training, attending the scope of public service activities.