Access to Health Services and Assistance Offered to the Afro-Descendant Communities in Northern Brazil: A Qualitative Study.

The remnants of quilombos, individuals of African descent, have faced several barriers throughout its history, either due to prejudice imposed by society, or the non-fulfillment of their rights guaranteed in the 1988 Constitution, such as access to health services. Thus, this study aims to evaluate the health care offered to quilombo communities in the northern region of Tocantins. This is an exploratory, descriptive study with a qualitative approach, including field research and focus group, carried out with 58 quilombo remnants people from communities in the northern region of Tocantins. Data collection was carried out between from October 2017 to July 2018, through semi-structured interviews. We found that these communities have limited access to health services, in addition to a negative perception of the assistance offered to the health of their population and the commitment of managers. Therefore, access to health and assistance received by the studied communities required to be prioritized since the care provided is not unique and has not met the health demands and needs of the remaining quilombos in northern Tocantins, Brazil.

Socio-environmental factors and diarrheal diseases in under five-year old children in the state of Tocantins, Brazil.

BACKGROUND: Diarrhea is a waterborne disease that affects children, especially those under 5 years of age. The objective of this study was to identify the spatial patterns of distribution of diarrheal disease in under 5-year-old children in the State of Tocantins, Brazil, from 2008 to 2013. METHODS: Geoprocessing tools were used to carry out an epidemiological study, to prepare thematic maps in the TerraView 4.2.2 software based on secondary data. General indicators of the disease, presence of spatial dependence through the Global Moran's Index (I) and the Spatial Association Index (LISA) were described. RESULTS: There were 3,015 cases of under 5-year-old children hospitalized for diarrhea, with an average annual rate (AAR) of 4.10/1,000 inhabitants (inhab.). Among the main characteristics were: increasing rates in under 1-year-old children (6.16 to 9.66/1,000 inhabitants); children aged 1 to 4 full years (63%); males (55%); 8 deaths of under one-year-old children (75%); county of Araguaína (67%); incidence in the county of Nazaré (63.97/1,000 inhab.); prevalence and incidence in the Araguaína microregion (45%, AAR 9.38/1,000 inhab.). The presence of a cluster with spatial autocorrelation was found in the Araguaína microregion, which was statistically significant (I = 0.11, p-value < 0.03), with priority of intervention (Moran Map). CONCLUSIONS: There was an increase in the number of hospitalizations for diarrhea in under 5-year-old children in the state of Tocantins. The spatial analysis identified clusters of priority areas for measures of maintenance and control of diarrheal diseases.