Role of dermatologists in leprosy elimination and post-elimination era: the Brazilian contribution.

Dermatologists in Brazil have always been involved in care of leprosy patients, and have been alternating with public health physicians in the management of control policies. It is worth mentioning that Fernando Terra, founder of the Brazilian Society of Dermatology (BSD) in 1912, established the position of intern dermatologist at the Hospital dos Lizaros, in Rio de Janeiro, in 1913 (Souza-Araújo, 1952; Oliveira, 1991). In 1920, the dermatologist Eduardo Rabello formulated the first national public policy on the control of leprosy in the country, which was called 'Inspection of Prophylaxis of Leprosy and Venereal Diseases'. His son was an enthusiast of dermatological research and his main legacy was the polarity concept of leprosy (Rabelo, 1937). However, from 1930 to 1985, the public health physicians were in charge of the political guidelines that represented the period of establishing the vertical programmatic structure, with compulsory isolation of patients (1933-1962). Moreover, the federal states coordinated the control actions, based on the leprosy prophylaxis campaign. The dermatologists resumed the conduction of the control process in 1986, when multi-drug therapy (MDT) was implemented in the country, and in 1991, when decentralization of public healthcare services to the municipal level took place. In 2003 again, the dermatologists were no longer in control of the national policy. However, active dermatologists have acted in Brazilian references on diagnosis and treatment of Hansen's disease, at municipal, state and national levels. It is true that dermatologists have been getting away from leprosy control actions. And one could ask: who will replace this specialist? In the 'post-elimination' era, when the public primary healthcare technicians no longer consider leprosy of much significance, the knowledge of the expert in this disease and its differential diagnoses will be crucial.

A municipalizaçäo como estratégia da descentralizaçäo dos serviços de saúde no Brasil / Municipalization of health services in Brazil

Analisa a questäo da descentralizaçäo dos serviços de saúde, inserindo o tema no cenário das lutas pela recuperaçäo das prerrogativas democráticas no Brasil. Busca delinear os marcos da tradiçäo centralizadora brasileira, nos seus aspectos políticos, administrativos e econômicos. Traça um histórico das idéias de descentralizaçäo na saúde e discute as conveniências e contradiçöes embutidas na proposta de municipalizaçäo dos serviços. A título de conclusäo, apresenta alguns problemas e tentativas de soluçöes que o autor vivenciou na condiçäo de gestor do SUS em Minas Gerais, encerrando com dois problemas: o nexo entre a näo realizaçäo da 9ª Conferência Nacional de Saúde e a proposta de privatizaçäo da Seguridade Social que fere os princípios e as diretrizes do Sistema Unico de Saúde.(ER)

Por um modelo tecno-assistencial da politica de saude em defesa da vida: contribuiçao para as conferencias de saude / For a Technological-Assistential Model of Health Care Policies in the Defense of Life - Contribution of Conferences on Health

Este material foi produzido a partir da experiencia que se desenvolve no municipio de Piracicaba-SP junto a atual administraçao municipal. Ela vem sendo produto da açao dos dirigentes do governo democratico popular e do laboratorio de planejamento em saude do DMPS/FCM da UNICAMP. como uma experiencia neste nivel do sistema vem enfrentado um conjunto de questoes pertinentes ao processo de implantaçao do SUS, na maior parte dos municipios do Brasil, resolvemos divulga-lo como contribuiçao para o processo de organizaçao dos municipios em direçao a XIX Conferencia Nacional de Saude.