Vitamin A is a crucial micronutrient for pregnant women and their fetuses. In addition to being essential for morphological and functional development and for ocular integrity, vitamin A exerts systemic effects on several fetal organs and on the fetal skeleton. Vitamin A requirements during pregnancy are therefore greater. Vitamin A deficiency (VAD) remains the leading cause of preventable blindness in the world. VAD in pregnant women is a public health issue in most developing countries. In contrast, in some developed countries, excessive vitamin A intake during pregnancy can be a concern since, when in excess, this micronutrient may exert teratogenic effects in the first 60 days following conception. Routine prenatal vitamin A supplementation for the prevention of maternal and infant morbidity and mortality is not recommended; however, in regions where VAD is a public health issue, vitamin A supplementation is recommended to prevent night blindness. Given the importance of this topic and the lack of a complete, up-to-date review on vitamin A and pregnancy, an extensive review of the literature was conducted to identify conflicting or incomplete data on the topic as well as any gaps in existing data.

Objective: Analyze the evaluation of the attributes of primary care made by users of basic units of Brazilian health by using PCATool instrument adapted to Brazil. Method: A systematic literature review conducted in the PubMed database, IBECS, LILACS, SciELO and BDTD. Results: 4,405 documents were found, selected 23 full texts. After Full reading and application of eligibility criteria, 14 articles were evaluated. The studies showed that primary care performs well in longitudinality attributes, completeness and coordination and worse performance on attributes access first contact, family counseling and community orientation, even in the basic units with the Family Health. Conclusion:The users of basic health units assessed as unsatisfactory attributes considered essential for a health care more equitable and competing for user autonomy and social control. It is inferred that there are still obstacles hindering user access to basic health services and care actions are still being developed without favoring user participation and the community context in which they live.

Objective: To describe Brazil’s historical background with regard to child development surveillance and perform a systematic review of studies published on surveillance records of child development within Child Health Handbooks. Data sources: A literature review was conducted in April of 2016 in the following electronic databases: Latin American and Caribbean Literature in Health Sciences (LILACS), the Scientific Electronic Library Online (SciELO), and the Medical Literature Analysis and Retrieval System Online (Medline). The search did not have any language or publication period restrictions, and included the bibliographic references of the selected articles. The keywords “child development and child health records,” and “child development and child health handbook” were applied. Articles were included that were original and that evaluated the use of child development surveillance tools in Brazil. Publications that were not original were excluded. The articles were selected first based on their title, then their abstracts, and finally a thorough reading. Data synthesis: The recommendation to support child development surveillance has been occurring since 1984. In 1995, developmental milestones were included in the Child’s Health Handbook, and in 2004 they became normative acts for surveillance, which should be carried out using this booklet. In the systematic review, six articles were selected in which the prevalence of child development surveillance recording ranged from 4.6 to 30.4%. This variation was due to different criteria and sample sizes as well as different methodologies employed to analyze the adequacy of filling out the handbook. Conclusions: Despite the fact that the Brazilian Ministry of Health formalized child development surveillance 32 years ago, the act of recording the surveillance in the Child Health Handbook is still deficient and irregular.

Vitamin A is essential for mother and child; however, vitamin A deficiency (VAD) remains a public health issue in various countries, affecting around 19 million pregnant women. In Brazil, the scarcity and inconsistency of data have prevented the prevalence and epidemiological status of VAD from being established. This study aimed to analyze vitamin A nutritional status in women receiving prenatal care at a reference center in northeastern Brazil. A cross-sectional study was conducted with a sample of 676 women. Serum retinol was measured by high-performance liquid chromatography. Subclinical infection was detected by measuring C-reactive protein (CRP). The World Health Organization criteria were used in the prevalence analysis, VAD classification level, and CRP effect evaluation. The prevalence of VAD (serum retinol <0.70 μmol/L) was 6.2% (95% confidence interval 4.5–8.3). In the univariate analysis, the variables significantly associated with VAD (p < 0.05) were having <12 years of schooling, being in the third trimester of pregnancy, and anemia. In the final multivariate model, the variables that remained significantly associated (p < 0.05) were being in the third trimester of pregnancy and anemia. VAD constituted a mild public health problem in this sample of pregnant women and was associated with the third trimester of pregnancy and maternal anemia.

Objectives: to present scientific recommendations for perinatal care in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: a narrative review was carried out between March and September in 2020 from BIREME, the Scientific Electronic Library Online and the Virtual Health Library databases, based on the descriptors: “Perinatal Care''; “Coronavirus”; “Coronavirus Infection''; “Obstetrics”and “Newborns”. The information was grouped into four categories, namely, prenatal care; labor and birthcare; care for puerperal women and the newborn. Results: 14 publications were found, 9 scientific articles and 5 technical standards pursuant to the Ministry of Health in Brazil. In the first category, generally, it is recom-mended that prenatal consultations should be continued, if necessary, by means of telemedi-cine; hospitalization of positive pregnant women in case symptoms are severe and consid-ering pregnant women’s clinical and emotional aspects. In the second, screening and testing on suspected cases, discouraging skin-to-skin contact and breastfeeding in the first hour of life. In the third, change the arrangement of beds in shared accommodations and have early discharge. In the fourth category, it is also recommended late clamping of the umbilical cord and observe differences in laboratorial testing of asymptomatic neonates. Conclusions: scientific evidence based on studies with methodological designs and more robust analyzes are necessary to guide perinatal care in the context of the harm-free COVID-19 pandemic.

The prevalence rates of exclusive breastfeeding at 6 months were well above the results obtained by other Brazilian authors. Home visit and maternal age prevailed as protective factors, while pacifier use was shown to be a discouraging practice.

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RESUMO: Introdução: O aleitamento materno exclusivo (AME), após o sexto mês de vida, como fonte alimentar única não é recomendado. Acredita-se que não é possível suprir às necessidades calórico proteicas, de ferro e vitaminas sem a devida complementação alimentar. Objetivo: Comparar a situação nutricional de crianças com AME por mais de seis mesesversuscrianças com outras práticas de amamentação. Método: Estudo transversal/exploratório com685 crianças (39 em AME > 6meses e 646com outras práticas de amamentação). Situações de déficit antropométrico foram consideradas por valores < - 2 no escore Z, anemia avaliada por hemoglobina (Hb) < 11 g/dL e níveis deficientes/baixos de vitamina A por retinol sérico < 1,05 µmol/L. Resultados: Nãoocorreram déficitsnas relações de peso/altura, peso/idade e índice de massa corporal (IMC) no grupo de crianças em AME > 6meses, enquanto no grupo de comparação esse índice foi de aproximadamente 0,5%. O déficit na relação altura/idade foi de aproximadamente 2,6% nos dois grupos. Na relação peso/altura e no IMC, os resultados variaram de 28,7 a 31,9% para excesso de peso no grupo de comparação. As médias de Hb, retinol sérico, peso e altura foram similares nos grupos. Discussão: A baixa prevalência (≤ 0,6%) de desnutrição energético proteica (DEP) nos dois grupos representa um achado, surpreendentemente, abaixo dos valores encontrados em população de referência de normalidade internacional, padrão da Organização Mundial da Saúde (OMS). Conclusão: As crianças que se mantiveram em AME após seis meses apresentaram situação nutricional equivalente àquelas com outras práticas de amamentação.