[Preparedness of pharmaceutical assistance for disasters: a study in five Brazilian municipalities]

A number of Brazilian municipalities have been affected by disasters in recent years. Municipal managers need to invest in preparedness to mitigate the impact of events and to restrict damages. Disaster preparedness should be conducted on various fronts, including the health sector, of which pharmaceutical services (PS) are a part. The scope of this paper is to describe and analyze PS preparedness in municipalities recently stricken by disasters. For this purpose, an investigation of a cross-sectional design involving various sources (official documents, newspaper articles, public databases and interviews with key PS informants) was conducted in five municipalities in two different regions. Analysis was based on an instrument with a logical model and indicators. Despite the fact that these municipalities are historically disaster-prone, very few measures of PS preparedness were encountered, which is clear evidence that management of PS has not been achieved. It is to be hoped that this presentation of the experiences of these municipalities might foster PS preparedness in other Brazilian municipalities.