Principles of the Unified Health System (SUS)

Universalization : health is a right of citizenship for all people and it is up to the State to ensure
this right, and access to actions and services must be guaranteed to all people, regardless of
gender, race, occupation or other social or personal characteristics .
Equity : the objective of this principle is to reduce inequalities. Although all people are entitled to
services, people are not the same and, therefore, have different needs. In other words, equity
means treating the unequal unequally, investing more where the need is greatest.
Integrality : this principle considers people as a whole, meeting all their needs. For this, it is
important to integrate actions, including health promotion, disease prevention, treatment and
rehabilitation. Together, the principle of integrality presupposes the articulation of health with other
public policies, to ensure an intersectoral action between the different areas that have
repercussions on the health and quality of life of individuals.

Organizational Principles
Regionalization and Hierarchization : services must be organized in increasing levels of
complexity, limited to a specific geographic area, planned based on epidemiological criteria and
with definition and knowledge of the population to be served.
Regionalization is a process of articulation between the services that already exist, aiming
at their unified command  .
Hierarchization, on the other hand, must divide the levels of care and guarantee forms of access
to services that are part of the complexity required by the case, within the limits of the resources
available in a given region.
Decentralization and Single Command : to decentralize is to redistribute power and
responsibility among the three levels of government. With regard to health, decentralization aims
to provide services with higher quality and ensure control and inspection by citizens. In the SUS,
responsibility for health must be decentralized to the municipality, that is, management, technical,
administrative and financial conditions must be provided to the municipality to exercise this
function. In order for the principle of decentralization to apply, there is a constitutional concept of a
single command, where each sphere of government is autonomous and sovereign in its decisions
and activities, respecting the general principles and the participation of society.
Popular Participation : society must participate in the day-to-day of the system. For this, Health
Councils and Conferences should be created, which aim to formulate strategies, control and
evaluate the implementation of health policy.