Trabalho, Educação e Saúde - TES (Work, Education and Health) is an open access scientific journal, edited by the Joaquim Venâncio Polytechnic School of Health, from Oswaldo Cruz Foundation.
The pharmaceutical workforce in municipal Primary Care has proven to be relevant, given the healthcare needs. The aim of this study was to analyze the rates of pharmacists working in Primary Care in municipalities and their relationship with investments in aquisition of medicines, considering the Municipal Human Development Index and the population size of Brazilian municipalities. The study includes primary data from 2021, which corresponds to Brazilian municipalities on a national scale, and secondary data from national databases. The average rate of pharmacists is 1.85 per 10,000 inhabitants. Municipalities with higher development indices have higher rates of pharmacists. Municipalities with low development indices, small size, in the North and Northeast regions are associated with none or one pharmacist per 10,000 inhabitants. Small municipalities showed a positive relationship between investment in medicines and the rate of pharmacists, meaning that places that invest more in medicines also have higher rates of pharmacists. However, municipalities with high development indices show a correlation with higher rates of pharmacists and invest more in medicines.
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