Primary health care in municipalities at high risk for malaria

Abstract

This study aims to characterize aspects of Primary Health Care in the Amazon Region of Brazil, considered as the main endemic area for malaria in the country. The Ministry of Health recommends the expansion of Primary Health Care in endemic areas for malaria. A survey focusing on patients infected with malaria was conducted in 6 municipalities, in January and February 2007, to investigate specific aspects of Primary Health Care. Data was analyzed quantitatively and field records helped to give support to context and policy issues in the visited sites. Quality of access to health services and medicines, continuity of health care, system coordination and community orientation are still incipient in the visited areas. The study showed that there is little integration between Primary Health Care and malaria control in the region, which calls for development of joint strategies and for the strengthening of Primary Health Care per se, as a benefit to the population of this endemic area.

Dispensing and determinants of non-adherence to treatment for non complicated malaria caused by Plasmodium vivax and Plasmodium falciparum in high-risk municipalities in the Brazilian Amazon

“…The Mafalda Project (“Pharmaceutical services for non-complicated malaria by P. vivax and P. falciparum in high-risk municipalities of the Brazilian Amazon: organization of services, prescribing, dispensing and adherence to treatment”) was developed in order to provide data of the situation of pharmaceutical services for malaria in municipalities at high risk for the disease in the Amazon [ 13 , 14 , 22 , 23 ].…”

“…There are no written instructions for the malaria patient and only oral guidance is received from technicians in endemic areas. Few qualified professionals (physicians) actually prescribe [ 23 ]. Health workers have little formal education while training is informal or insufficient [ 23 ].…”

“…Few qualified professionals (physicians) actually prescribe [ 23 ]. Health workers have little formal education while training is informal or insufficient [ 23 ]. In this context it seems difficult that these workers can effectively contribute to the processes that lead to adherence [ 6 ].…”

G6PD deficiency in male individuals infected by Plasmodium vivax malaria in the Brazilian Amazon: a cost study

“…Malaria represents a severe public health problem in Brazil, being associated with socio-economic problems and failures in preventive measures and social protection actions [ 35 , 36 ]. It presents probable repercussions in the disease-impoverishment-poverty cycle, and is thus considered one of the diseases associated with poverty worldwide, impacting negatively on family income, which then further increases the vulnerability of the affected populations [ 37 , 38 ].…”

Public health emergency: social representations among managers of a university hospital

“…Given these considerations and the realization of the strategic position of the university hospitals for this study as integrator centers of the care network in the Brazilian National Health System (SUS), it is understood that when the focus of study is on the social insertion of public health emergencies, this is likely to contribute for the production of knowledge for healthcare/nursing, for expanding circumscribed approaches to eminently epidemiological aspects of emerging and reemerging infectious diseases (7)(8) . It is understood that the results can be converted into support for the restructuring of management, detection and response strategies for current and future emergencies, with implications for nursing for its expressive management/care practice in the hospitals spaces (9) .…”