Primary Health Care and tuberculosis: services evaluation.

Area of Science:

• Public Health
• Health Services Research
• Infectious Disease Control

Background:

• Brazil's Ministry of Health advocates for tuberculosis control decentralization to Primary Health Care (PHC).
• Limited research exists on the performance of Tuberculosis Control Programs within decentralized PHC settings.
• Evaluating PHC performance is crucial for optimizing tuberculosis treatment strategies.

Purpose of the Study:

• To assess the performance of Primary Health Care services in managing tuberculosis treatment.
• To identify strengths and weaknesses in the decentralized tuberculosis control model within PHC.

Main Methods:

• An evaluative, cross-sectional study conducted in 2011 involving 239 health professionals.
• Utilized a structured instrument assessing health service quality (structure, process, results).
• Employed descriptive statistics, indicator development, and the reduced variable "Z" for performance analysis.

Main Results:

• High performance observed in "participation of professionals in tuberculosis patients' care" (structure) and "reference and counterreference" (process).
• Low performance indicated for "professional training" (structure) and "external actions for tuberculosis control" (process).

Conclusions:

• Tuberculosis control decentralization to PHC is occurring vertically, not holistically.
• Effective tuberculosis control necessitates addressing challenges in health professional engagement, training, and turnover.
• Improved coordination and monitoring of control actions within PHC are essential.