Directly observed treatment for tuberculosis in the State of São Paulo

Abstract

Objectives: To describe and analyze the coverage profile of directly observed treatment for tuberculosis in 59 priority municipalities in the state of São Paulo, Brazil, through the creation and comparison of groups homogenized by the number of people in each municipality from 2006 to 2012. Method: Quantitative, epidemiological and descriptive study based on the data available in the EPI-TB and the Statistica 7.0 software databases. Results: The mean and standard deviation of directly observed treatment for the 59 priority municipalities of the state of São Paulo were 77.0 ± 24.3%. The coverage of directly observed treatment increased in 34 municipalities (57.6%) but decreased in 25 (42.4%). Conclusion: Some municipalities could not keep the coverage reached at some point. This coverage heterogeneity should be examined in detail by searching for possible reasons in political-management, technical-operational and funding dimensions.

Spatial analysis of risk areas for the development of tuberculosis and treatment outcomes

“…In the field of nursing, researches involving health surveillance are of great relevance, considering that, during academic training, nurses are prepared to work in epidemiological research and for being at the forefront of health care (7) . These professionals can actively participate in the population's health-disease process, acting in direct contact with users, the community and the multidisciplinary team, in the conduct of public health actions (8) .…”

Social inequalities associated with the onset of tuberculosis in disease-prone territories in a city from northeastern Brazil

“…Corroborating this strategy, studies show that TB is determined more by the social and cultural context in which people live than by the patient's clinical determinants, with disparities in terms of the distribution of resources increasing the chances of risk of illness and similarly affecting the prognosis. More remote areas tend to concentrate more deficient services in terms of diagnosis and quality of treatment, with there still being great difficulty in developing Directly Observed Treatment (DOT) [7].…”