Saúde infantil em áreas pobres: resultados de um estudo de base populacional nos municípios de Caracol, Piauí, e Garrafão do Norte, Pará, Brasil

• Autor(a) principal: Cesar, Juraci Almeida
• Data de Publicação: 2009
• Outros Autores: Cesar, Maria Aurora Dropa Chrestani, Fantinel, Everton José, Gonçalves, Tatiane de Souza, Neumann, Nelson Arns
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: por
• Título da fonte: Repositório Institucional da FURG (RI FURG)
• Texto Completo: http://repositorio.furg.br/handle/1/2499
• topic: Health status indicators; Child welfare; Maternal-child health services; Indicadores básicos de saúde; Bem-estar da criança; Serviços de saúde materno-infantil

The aim of this study was to evaluate child health indicators in the municipalities (counties) of Caracol, Piauí State, and Garrafão do Norte, Pará State, Brazil. Through household visits using systematic sampling, previously trained interviewers applied a standard questionnaire to mothers of under-five children, investigating socioeconomic status, housing and environmental sanitation, demographic characteristics, disease patterns, and prenatal and childbirth care. The analysis used the t-test and chi-square test to compare indicators between the two municipalities. Of the 1,728 children studied, 60% were from families with incomes less than one monthly minimum wage (approximately U$200), 41% had no type of sewage treatment or disposal, 10% of mothers reported zero prenatal visits, 30% of the children were born in the same municipality, and 30% had been taken to a pediatric consultation in the previous 3 months; 20% had a heightfor-age deficit ≥ 2 standard deviations. All target indicators were deficient in both the municipalities (especially in Garrafão do Norte). Expanding health care supply and improving housing and sanitation conditions are priorities in both municipalities.