[Evaluation of health surveillance at several primary care units in Cuba]

The organization and operation of the epidemiological monitoring carried out at several Primary Care facilities in Cuba was assessed by means of a study conducted for the purpose of ascertaining the effectiveness of the monitoring in question and of contributing to further improve the mechanisms thereof and thus improve the health conditions of the population. This assessment was implemented at eight Polyclinics in the city of Havana throughout the 1998-1999 period.

By means of the implementation of an integral methodology, an assessment was made of the three factors involved in the monitoring system at the facilities in question, that is, the organization, the process and the results thereof. For this purpose, a survey which quantified some aspects of the system (sensitivity, opportunity, representativeness, usefulness) and a semi-structured survey of epidemiologists and other physicians involved in the monitoring in question in addition to the users of the system was used.

The assessment of the organization revealed the monitoring organization to be adequate. In the assessment of the process, sensitivity was found to be low at some polyclinics, problems existing at many of them with regard to the opportunity and flexibility of the system. The assessment of the results of the monitoring revealed them to be satisfactory as regards their effectiveness for detecting acute events, as well as in the perception of the users with regard to the usefulness of these results for solving the problems pinpointed.

The monitoring done at the polyclinics assessed is indicative of there being an adequate organization of the monitoring, although some shortcomings were found to exist with regard to the fulfillment of some aspects of the monitoring. This however has no bearing on the results for the system as a whole, which is capable of detecting any epidemiological situation of importance and of suggesting appropriate measures for controlling the situation.