Towards a Primary Health Care Analysis as a Biopower Device

Abstract

Primary Health Care in Chile (APS) is a central part of the Chilean state's public health strategy for population care. Within the APS there are multiple indicators for measuring health actions, such as Health Goals (MS) and the Primary Health Care Activity Index (IAAPS). In this line, in this article I seek to reflect, from a Foucaultian perspective, and from an analysis of the MS and IAAPS, if it is possible to think of the APS as a biopower device within Chilean public health. To this end, the investigation will be divided into three parts. Firstly, I will explain the central elements that make up the MS and the IAAPS, secondly, I will develop the concepts of biopower and device, present in Foucaultian thinking and, in the third section, perform analysis of MS and IAAPS from the comprehensive keys worked in the previous section. Finally, the course of the arguments leads me to argue that MS and IAAPS are central biopower strategies present within what I have called a primary care device, the aim of which is, on the one hand, to intervene the bodies and, on the other hand, to separate and prioritize certain groups of the population and displace others.