OBJECTIVE Analyzing statements of health professionals from a Street Clinic regarding care of a homeless population with tuberculosis. METHOD This is a qualitative research, conducted in the central region of São Paulo at three basic health units in the period of November to December 2014. A semi-structured interview guideline was implemented for data collection and all interviews were recorded using a digital recorder. RESULTS Six health professionals were interviewed. According to the Discourse Analysis perspective, three discursive segments emerged: experiences on care in the streets; weaknesses inherent to the treatment process; and incentives as a means of maintaining sick people in treatment. CONCLUSION Caring for a the homeless population with tuberculosis constitutes a new and challenging experience. It involves difficulties in dealing with the reality of a miserable social context, a lack and inadequacy of services, as well as care limitations for treatment and treatment dropout, which reinforces multiresistance. However, the investigated Street Clinic teams seek to expand access to health and social care services to this population.

IntroductionLeprosy, or Hansen’s disease, remains a cause of preventable disability. Early detection, treatment and prevention are key to reducing transmission. Post-exposure prophylaxis with single-dose rifampicin (SDR-PEP) reduces the risk of developing leprosy when administered to screened contacts of patients. This has been adopted in the WHO leprosy guidelines. The PEP4LEP study aims to determine the most effective and feasible method of screening people at risk of developing leprosy and administering chemoprophylaxis to contribute to interrupting transmission.Methods and analysisPEP4LEP is a cluster-randomised implementation trial comparing two interventions of integrated skin screening combined with SDR-PEP distribution to contacts of patients with leprosy in Ethiopia, Mozambique and Tanzania. One intervention is community-based, using skin camps to screen approximately 100 community contacts per leprosy patient, and to administer SDR-PEP when eligible. The other intervention is health centre-based, inviting household contacts of leprosy patients to be screened in a local health centre and subsequently receive SDR-PEP when eligible. The mobile health (mHealth) tool SkinApp will support health workers’ capacity in integrated skin screening. The effectiveness of both interventions will be compared by assessing the rate of patients with leprosy detected and case detection delay in months, as well as feasibility in terms of cost-effectiveness and acceptability.Ethics and disseminationEthical approval was obtained from the national ethical committees of Ethiopia (MoSHE), Mozambique (CNBS) and Tanzania (NIMR/MoHCDEC). Study results will be published open access in peer-reviewed journals, providing evidence for the implementation of innovative leprosy screening methods and chemoprophylaxis to policymakers.Trial registration numberNL7294 (NTR7503).

these professionals' words produce different meanings, which suggest that the practices of nursing professionals allow the patient to search for a cure, which is reinforced by incentives of a social nature, but permeated by the vicissitudes that are circumscribed in the ill person's everyday production conditions.

Objective:to investigate the planning pathways in the transfer of Directly Observed Treatment of tuberculosis. Method:a qualitative study conducted using interviews and a semi-structured guide, administered to five subjects who were among the coordinators and managers of the tuberculosis control programs, and the secretary of health of a municipality in the south of Brazil. Situational Strategic Planning and Discourse Analysis of the French matrix were the theoretical and analytical references used, respectively. Results:three reflexive axes were identified: weaknesses in the process of planning the Directly Observed Treatment transfer, antagonism between planning and daily requirements and formulation of planning and execution. Lack of systematization regarding the planning and execution for transfer the Directly Observed Treatment policy, demonstrates the fragility and incipience of this activity, and the possibility of its non-existence. Conclusion:the urgent need for managers and coordinators to better appropriate the theoretical framework for changing public policies, and the related planning mechanisms, includes a proposal for reorganization and qualification of the diffusion process, both practical-operative and political-organization.