Atividades educativas para o controle de triatomíneos em área de vigilância epidemiológica do Estado do Paraná, Brasil

Abstract

This paper describes a health education project targeting a rural community and health professionals from counties undergoing epidemiological surveillance for Chagas disease vectors in the State of Paraná, Brazil. A group of technicians from the Brazilian National Health Foundation (FUNASA) was trained, together with teachers, workers, and students from the State University of Maringá, who prepared an instructions manual and drew up guidelines for reporting presence of triatomines or suspected cases of Trypanosoma cruziinfection. From June 1996 through February 2000, the activities reached 742 families, 2,300 schoolchildren, and 27 teachers from 18 elementary schools, and included a meeting between FUNASA members and 40 participants, 21 meetings in health centers, and provision of a set of preserved triatomine specimens for use in vector surveillance and identification. After three years of health education activities and insecticide treatment (cipermetrina 125 mg i.a./m2), there was a reduction of 80.6% in households infested with triatomines and increased awareness among rural residents and health workers. The authors discuss the need to train professionals committed to changing Brazil's prevailing health model.

Assessment of the Housing Improvement Program for Chagas Disease Control in the Northwestern municipalities of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil

“…The area under study will continue to be monitored in the coming years as a maintenance strategy of municipal and community interest to determine the importance of preventing triatomines and CD in these places. As observed in other studies, after evaluation of surveillance activities, the population and local professional interest tends to rise, as reflected by a greater number of triatomine notifications in the years following the research (26) (27) .…”

“…Although the greatest number of insectsis usually captured inside the house, the peridomiciliary area, as a rule, presents higher infestations, although these cases are usuallydetected by HIPCDC agents; moreover, the population is generally not attentive to the search of suspicious insects in this environment, as they do not consider it as part of their household (25) (26) (27) . Diotaiuti (28) stated that the presence of peridomiciliary vectors should be controlled in order to interruptinfestation close to human dwellings; adoption of this attitude is a preventive measure against the establishment of household colonies, which corroborates the importance of improvements in the peridomicile verified in this study.…”

Community Participation in Chagas Disease Vector Surveillance: Systematic Review

“…An educational/communication component tailored to the social-cultural background of the community is obviously required to stimulate notification [4], [35], [162], [163], but our review suggests that very simple interventions can be effective enough. Perhaps the main challenge here is to sustain community awareness in the face of even rarer infestation events; continuous education, a clearly defined channel for communication between residents and control agents, and an opportune response to any notification (including those involving insects other than triatomines) are probably the key to long-term success [35], [73], [152], [159], [164]–[166].…”

Avaliação do Programa de Controle da Doença de Chagas em relação à presença de Panstrongylus megistus na região centro-oeste do Estado de Minas Gerais, Brasil

“…Este episódio pode ser explicado em decorrência do melhor preparo do agente para diagnosticar os possíveis focos presentes no peridomicílio, onde os esconderijos dos insetos são usualmente mais numerosos, e a população está desatenta à presença de triatomíneos, além de ter menor cuidado com a higiene e organização deste local. Uma pesquisa realizada no Estado do Paraná revelou o descaso dos moradores com o peridomicílio, que independente das condições de cuidado do domicílio, era deixado em abandono, muitas vezes porque a própria população não percebia tal ambiente como fazendo parte da moradia 39 . Aqui é fortemente demonstrada a importância da manutenção de um programa sistematizado e regular, visto que a maioria dos insetos do peridomicílio é somente detectada pelos agentes municipais.…”