ABSTRACT The main proposal to set up an articulated mode of operation of health services has been the concept of network, which has been appropriated in different ways in the field of public health, as it is used in other disciplinary fields or even taking it from common sense. Amid the diversity of uses and concepts, we recognize the need for rigorous conceptual demarcation about networks in the field of health. Such concern aims to preserve the strategic potential of […]

OBJECTIVE: Before the Aids pandemic, demographic transition and control programs prompted a shift in the age of incidence of tuberculosis from adults to older people in many countries. The objective of the study is to evaluate this transition in Brazil. METHODS: Tuberculosis incidence and mortality data from the Ministry of Health and population data from the Brazilian Bureau of Statistics were used to calculate age-specific incidence and mortality rates and medians. RESULTS: Among reported cases, the proportion of older people […]

This work provides a literature review of Policy, Planning and Health Management between 1974 and 2005. Information is presented from previous research and publications, incorporating the production contained within the LILACS database from the last five years. The emergence of studies in these sub-themes is described in an attempt to associate them with political circumstances, with particular emphasis on: the Sanitary Reform Process, the construction of the National Health System and the reorientation of health practices. The particularities of the […]

The aims of vital statistics regarding health administration and health planning, are discussed. The evolution of vital statistics processing in State of Bahia, Brazil, and the introduced modifications beside the Administration Reform after 1966, are presented. With the positive results obtained the conclusion is that these modifications contributed substantially at statistic production of more valuable data for health administration and planning in that Brazilian area.

The needs, the difficulties and the probabilities of a pre-diagnosis program with resources available both at the Department of Public Health of Bahia, Brazil, and the Federal University of Bahia are pointed out. The results of this program shall offer, to the first institution, the informations needed to its planning process, and to the second, the field needed to its own work.

After describing the organization and contents of the course on health planning, of Public Health School of U.S.P., the Authors relate the results obtained through a research with the professionals prepared in such courses from 1968 to 1972. In spite of some deficiencies pointed out in the course, the opinion of almost all of the interviewers was that the knowledges and techniques given in the course confere them large capacity for carrying out planning activities. The major difficulties found are […]

It was made considerations about some fundamental concepts of Cibernetics and Informatics and its historical evolution. Besides that it is shown the way Informatics can by applied in the Health Sector and its real situation in Brazil.

The CENDES/PAHO method of health planning was used in the area of Araraquara, S. Paulo (Brazil). The cost of tuberculosis was determined using normative data; in order to test the influence of changes in the number of persons eligible for BCG vaccination, tuberculosis incidence and efficacy of BCG, simulated data were also used. Local epidemiological indices were used in order to plan antituberculosis activities. A great diversity of results showed up: costs rated by application of normative model were eight […]

Six hundred and nine cases of meningitis occurred from July 1st to December 31st in the Rio de Janeiro municipal area; 311 were classified as bacterial and 298 as viral. The majority of the viral cases were part of the September-December outbreak caused by the ECHO-9 virus. Three aspects are presented and discussed in this paper: first, the contradiction between the political and epidemiological significance of the disease; second, one of the main problems of the Brazilian Health Information System […]

The aim of this study was to determine and analyse the potential years of life lost (PYLL) of the principal causes of death, by sex and age, in Fortaleza, in 1978-80. Death certificates of the period 1978-80, were classified according to cause, sex and age. The technique adopted for PYLL was the one suggested by Romeder and McWhinnie, the age limit of potential life being established at 65. The results showed that the total of PYLL was 197,942.5 for males, […]