Science, Technology and Pharmaceutical Policy on the agenda: contributions from the society to the 16th National Conference on Health.

The Plenary of the National Health Council (CNS) approved the Resolution 568/2017, convening the 16th National Health Conference to be held in 2019 and decided to promote thematic activities in eight areas, including Pharmaceutical Policy and Science and Technology. CNS partnership with FIOCRUZ and the National School of Pharmacists proposed the 8th National Symposium on Science and Technology and Pharmaceutical Policy, preceded by ten regional preparatory meetings for the symposium throughout the country. The purpose of this article is to present and analyze the results of the first stage of meetings. A participatory methodology was developed for the meetings that included the presentation of problem situations reported in the form of "cases" built by real narratives, fictitious or adapted from reality. Debates in groups and proposals construction, compilation and weighting, with general discussion completed the meetings. The set of 150 proposals from the 5 meetings was read individually by each of the members of the analysis team and pre-categorized. The 5 meetings had a total of 238 participants. Four categories were defined: Health as a right; Consolidation of SUS principles; Adequate and sufficient financing for SUS; Participatory democracy.