National Health Promotion Policy (PNPS): chapters of a journey still under construction

Health is a fundamental human right, according to the global commitment to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Health is a public good socially produced by and within social networks and disputes among subjects that seek to place certain interests and needs on the agenda of public policies. Health Promotion, as a set of strategies and forms of producing health, both individual and collective, aiming to meet the social needs of health and to assure better quality of life of the population, emerges intrinsically marked by tensions inherent to the defense of the right to health. The present article intends to detail a certain pathway of Health Promotion at SUS, telling the history of its affirmation as a National Policy and the possibilities that were produced therein to amplify the completeness of healthcare. The authors, totally involved in the preparation, implementation, and revision of the National Health Promotion Policy (PNPS), classified the journey into three chapters: (1) 1998/2004--Embryo of a PNPS; (2) 2005/2013--Birth, growth, and development of a PNPS; (3) 2013-2015--Revision, expansion and dissemination of the PNPS. In addition to the narrative of a history, the cycle analysis of a policy, or balance of advancements, there is an attempt to restore contexts, texts, speeches, and tensions in the PNPS trajectory. The next chapters are still ongoing, and announce paths and possibilities on how to ensure that a Policy is kept alive. Key words Health promotion, National health promotion policy, Public policy, Policy analysis