Health education and promotion actions among teams of the National Primary Care Access and Quality Improvement Program, Rio Grande do Sul state, Brazil.

Objetivo: to investigate the provision of health education and promotion actions in primary care, and their association with demographic characteristics and Family Health Strategy (FHS) coverage in Rio Grande do Sul state, Brazil. Methods: this is a cross-sectional study conducted with 816 teams that adhered to the 2012 Primary Care Access and Quality Improvement Program. Results: the most frequent actions were directed towards people with diabetes (91.2%), hypertension (90.8%) as well as antenatal and postnatal care (84.6%). The least frequent were directed to wards crack, alcohol and other drug users (32.4%), anxiolytic/benzodiazepine users (20.3%), people with tuberculosis (31.4%) and leprosy (21.0%). The greatest provision of health promotion and education actions occurred in smaller municipalities and with greater Family Health coverage. Conclusion: actions aimed at the reproductive period and chronic morbidities were the focus of primary care. FHS implementation strengthens health promotion.