Primary Care Coverage with SISAB • healthbR

Overview

The SISAB (Sistema de Informacao em Saude para a Atencao Basica) provides primary care coverage indicators for Brazil, maintained by the Ministry of Health (SAPS). Unlike other DATASUS modules that use FTP, SISAB data is fetched from a public REST API.

Feature	Details
Source	REST API (relatorioaps.saude.gov.br)
Data type	Aggregated coverage indicators
Report types	4 (APS, oral health, community agents, PNS)
Geographic levels	4 (Brazil, region, UF, municipality)
Frequency	Monthly (by CNES competencia)

Report types

Code	Name	Availability
aps	APS coverage (primary care teams)	2019–present
sb	Oral health coverage (dental teams)	2024–present
acs	Community health agents (ACS)	2007–present
pns	PNS coverage (National Health Survey)	2020–2023

Geographic levels

Level	Description
`"brazil"`	National total
`"region"`	5 macro-regions
`"uf"`	27 states (default)
`"municipality"`	~5,570 municipalities

Getting started

library(healthbR)
library(dplyr)

Check available years

sisab_years()

Module information

sisab_info()

Basic download

APS coverage by state (default)

# APS coverage by state, January 2024
aps_jan <- sisab_data(year = 2024, month = 1)
aps_jan

Full year

# APS coverage, all months of 2023
aps_2023 <- sisab_data(year = 2023)
aps_2023

Other report types

Oral health coverage

sb <- sisab_data(year = 2024, type = "sb", month = 6)
sb

Community health agents

acs <- sisab_data(year = 2023, type = "acs")
acs

PNS coverage

pns <- sisab_data(year = 2022, type = "pns")
pns

Geographic levels

National total

national <- sisab_data(year = 2024, level = "brazil", month = 1)
national

By region

regions <- sisab_data(year = 2024, level = "region", month = 1)
regions

By state (default)

states <- sisab_data(year = 2024, level = "uf", month = 1)
states

By municipality

# filter by UF to avoid large downloads
sp_munic <- sisab_data(
  year = 2024,
  level = "municipality",
  uf = "SP",
  month = 1
)
sp_munic

Filtering by state and month

# single state, single month
sp_jan <- sisab_data(year = 2024, uf = "SP", month = 1)

# specific months
sp_q1 <- sisab_data(year = 2024, uf = "SP", month = 1:3)

# multiple years
sp_multi <- sisab_data(year = 2022:2024, uf = "SP", month = 6)

Exploring variables

# APS variables (default)
sisab_variables()

# oral health variables
sisab_variables(type = "sb")

# community agents
sisab_variables(type = "acs")

# PNS variables
sisab_variables(type = "pns")

# search
sisab_variables(search = "cobertura")
sisab_variables(search = "equipe")

Example: APS coverage by state

aps <- sisab_data(year = 2024, level = "uf", month = 6)

# coverage by state
aps |>
  select(sgUf, qtPopulacao, qtCobertura) |>
  arrange(desc(qtCobertura))

Example: coverage trends over time

# monthly APS coverage, national level, 2020-2024
trend <- sisab_data(
  year = 2020:2024,
  level = "brazil"
)

trend |>
  select(year, nuComp, qtCobertura) |>
  arrange(year, nuComp)

Example: municipal-level analysis

# municipality-level APS coverage in Minas Gerais
mg_munic <- sisab_data(
  year = 2024,
  level = "municipality",
  uf = "MG",
  month = 6
)

# distribution of coverage
mg_munic |>
  summarize(
    n_municipalities = n(),
    mean_coverage = mean(qtCobertura, na.rm = TRUE),
    median_coverage = median(qtCobertura, na.rm = TRUE),
    min_coverage = min(qtCobertura, na.rm = TRUE),
    max_coverage = max(qtCobertura, na.rm = TRUE)
  )

Differences from other modules

SISAB has a few differences from DATASUS FTP modules (SIM, SIH, CNES, etc.):

Feature	SISAB	DATASUS modules
Data source	REST API	FTP .dbc/.DBF files
Column names	camelCase (from API)	UPPERCASE
`lazy` parameter	Not available	Available (arrow/DuckDB)
`parse` parameter	Not available	Available
`dictionary()`	Not available	Available
Data type	Aggregated coverage	Microdata (individual records)

Column names are preserved as returned by the API (e.g., qtCobertura, sgUf, noMunicipioIbge). Use sisab_variables() to explore them.

Cache management

Downloaded data is cached locally for faster future access:

# check cache status
sisab_cache_status()

# clear cache if needed
sisab_clear_cache()

Additional resources

SISAB reporting portal (sisab.saude.gov.br)
relatorioaps portal (relatorioaps.saude.gov.br)
Primary care policy (SAPS) (www.gov.br/saude/pt-br/composicao/saps)
Census vignette for population denominators