The present study was designed to evaluate the effectiveness of International Asthma Guidelines in low-income asthmatic children in the city of Sao Paulo, Brazil. Fifty children with moderate or severe asthma were evaluated. Patients were evaluated before and after a 1 yr follow-up period using a pre- and post-education design with patients acting as their own controls. Parents were interviewed before and 1 yr after the programme. Most of the children were receiving inadequate medical care from their primary physicians, based mainly on bronchodilators. After the educational programme combined with a medical treatment based mainly on inhaled steroids, there was a decrease in emergency room visits and no need for hospital admissions. There was also a significant decrease in asthma severity and impairment scores (p<.0001). The combination of good medical care and an educational programme can reduce the symptoms of asthma and significantly increase the quality of life, as well as decreasing the costs of asthma treatment. We conclude that by applying the International Asthma Guidelines substantial success was achieved, resulting in moving the patients from crises-orientated management into a chronic care and preventive management mode.

Introdução: o aleitamento materno está condicionado a fatores socioeconômicos e culturais, sendo necessários incentivos para que as mães possam aderir a essa prática. A implementação dos “Dez Passos” para o sucesso do aleitamento materno tem contribuído de forma significativa para o aumento das taxas de amamentação. Objetivos: descrever os principais pontos do plano de avaliação do grau de implementação dos “Dez Passos” para o sucesso do aleitamento materno em um Hospital Materno Infantil do Distrito Federal. Método: elaboração de um plano de avaliação baseado em análise documental acerca dos Dez passos para o sucesso do aleitamento materno e adaptações realizadas no modelo de avaliação implementado no HMIB e proposto pelo Ministério da Saúde. Conclusão: o modelo avaliativo apresentado foi pensado para qualificar o grau de implantação de cada um dos Dez passos descritos e possibilitar ampliar a discussão, a partir das dimensões consideradas, dos pontos negativos e positivos desta iniciativa.