The daily routine of nurses in rural areas in the Family Health Strategy.

OBJECTIVE: to analyze the daily work of rural Family Health Strategy (FHS) nurses. METHOD: a qualitative, descriptive and exploratory research. The data were collected with eleven rural nurses of the city of Campina Grande, Paraíba State, through semi-structured interviews, between January and March of 2017, using Content Analysis. RESULTS: rural nurses have a strong relationship with the population. However, they reveal a daily work with various organizational barriers that range from the team displacement to the workplace to the operationalization of health actions, which are mediated by the characteristics of rurality. Some of these barriers can be remedied by a more proactive action from the management. FINAL CONSIDERATIONS: conditioned by the characteristics of rurality, the differentiated dynamics work reveal weaknesses in the quality of nursing care and lower effectiveness of the FHS.

The daily routine of nurses in rural areas in the Family Health Strategy / El cotidiano de enfermeros en áreas rurales en la Estrategia Salud de la Familia / O cotidiano de enfermeiros em áreas rurais na estratégia saúde da família

ABSTRACT Objective: to analyze the daily work of rural Family Health Strategy (FHS) nurses. Method: a qualitative, descriptive and exploratory research. The data were collected with eleven rural nurses of the city of Campina Grande, Paraíba State, through semi-structured interviews, between January and March of 2017, using Content Analysis. Results: rural nurses have a strong relationship with the population. However, they reveal a daily work with various organizational barriers that range from the team displacement to the workplace to the operationalization of health actions, which are mediated by the characteristics of rurality. Some of these barriers can be remedied by a more proactive action from the management. Final considerations: conditioned by the characteristics of rurality, the differentiated dynamics work reveal weaknesses in the quality of nursing care and lower effectiveness of the FHS.

RESUMEN Objetivo: analizar el cotidiano de trabajo de enfermeros de la Estrategia Salud de la Familia (ESF) que actúan en áreas rurales. Método: investigación cualitativa, descriptiva-exploratoria. Los datos fueron recolectados con once enfermeros del área rural del municipio de Campina Grande-PB, a través de entrevistas semiestructuradas, entre enero y marzo de 2017, con análisis a partir del Análisis de Contenido. Resultados: los enfermeros de las áreas rurales tienen relación de vínculo intensa con la población. Sin embargo, revelan un cotidiano de trabajo con varias barreras organizacionales que van desde el desplazamiento del equipo al lugar de trabajo a la operacionalización de las acciones de salud, siendo estas mediadas por las características de la ruralidad. Algunas de esas barreras pueden ser sanadas por la acción más propositiva de la gestión. Consideraciones finales: la dinámica de trabajo diferenciada, condicionada por las características propias de la ruralidad, revelan fragilidades en la calidad de la asistencia de enfermería y menor efectividad de la ESF.

RESUMO Objetivo: analisar o cotidiano de trabalho de enfermeiros da Estratégia Saúde da Família (ESF) que atuam em áreas rurais. Método: pesquisa qualitativa, descritiva-exploratória. Os dados foram coletados com onze enfermeiros da área rural do município de Campina Grande-PB, por meio de entrevistas semiestruturadas, entre janeiro e março de 2017, com análise a partir da técnica de Análise de Conteúdo. Resultados: os enfermeiros das áreas rurais têm relação de vínculo intensa com a população, no entanto, revelam um cotidiano de trabalho com várias barreiras organizacionais que vão desde o deslocamento da equipe ao local de trabalho à operacionalização das ações de saúde, sendo essas mediadas pelas características da ruralidade. Algumas dessas barreiras podem ser sanadas pela ação mais propositiva da gestão. Considerações finais: a dinâmica de trabalho diferenciada, condicionada pelas características próprias da ruralidade, revelam fragilidades na qualidade da assistência de enfermagem e menor efetividade da ESF.

Brazil's Family Health Strategy: factors associated with programme uptake and coverage expansion over 15 years (1998-2012).

Universal Health Coverage (UHC) is one of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Achieving UHC will require strong health systems to promote and deliver equitable and integrated healthcare services through primary healthcare (PHC). In Brazil, the Family Health Strategy (FHS) delivers PHC through the public health system. Created in 1994, the FHS covered almost 123 million individuals (63% of the Brazilian population) by 2015. The FHS has been associated with many health improvements, but gaps in coverage still remain. This article examines factors associated with the implementation and expansion of the FHS across 5419 Brazilian municipalities from 1998 to 2012. The proportion of the municipal population covered by the FHS over time was assessed using a longitudinal multilevel model for change that accounted for variables covering eight domains: economic development, healthcare supply, healthcare needs/access, availability of other sources of healthcare, political context, geographical isolation, regional characteristics and population size. Data were obtained from multiple publicly available sources. During the 15-year study period, national coverage of the FHS increased from 4.4% to 54%, with 58% of the municipalities having population coverage of 95% or more, and municipalities that had not adopted the programme decreased from 86.4% to 4.9%. The increase in FHS uptake and coverage was not homogenous across municipalities, and was positively associated with small population size, low population density, low coverage of private health insurance, low level of economic development, alignment of the political party of the Mayor and the state Governor, and availability of healthcare supply. Efforts to expand the FHS coverage will need to focus on increasing the availability of health personnel, devising financial incentives for municipalities to uptake/expand the FHS and devising new policies that encompass both private and public sectors.

Supporting the massive scale-up of antiretroviral therapy: the evolution of PEPFAR-supported treatment facilities in South Africa, 2005-2009.

BACKGROUND: South Africa has an estimated 1.5 million persons in need of antiretroviral therapy (ART). In 2004, the South African government began collaborating with the United States President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) to increase access to ART. We determined how PEPFAR treatment support changed from 2005-2009. METHODS: In order to describe the change in number and type of PEPFAR-supported ART facilities, we analyzed routinely collected program-monitoring data from 2005-2009. The collected data included the number, type and province of facilities as well as the number of patients receiving ART at each facility. RESULTS: The number of PEPFAR-supported facilities providing ART increased from 184 facilities in 2005 to 1,469 facilities in 2009. From 2005-2009 the number of PEPFAR-supported government facilities increased 10.1 fold from 54 to 546 while the number of PEPFAR-supported NGO facilities (including general practitioner and NGO facilities) increased 6.2 fold from 114 to 708. In 2009 the total number of persons treated at PEPFAR-supported NGO facilities was 43,577 versus 501,089 persons at PEPFAR-supported government facilities. Overall, the median number of patients receiving ART per site increased from 81 in 2005 to 136 in 2009. CONCLUSIONS: To mitigate the gap between those needing and those receiving ART, more facilities were supported. The proportion of government facilities supported and the median number of persons treated at these facilities increased. This shift could potentially be sustainable as government sites reach more individuals and receive government funding. These results demonstrate that PEPFAR was able to support a massive scale-up of ART services in a short period of time.

The EFSA health claims 'learning experience'.

The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has recently highlighted the need to provide scientific requirements for health claims and to find new regulatory issues for healthy food products. For this reason, EFSA asked its Dietetic Products, Nutrition and Allergies (NDA) panel to draft additional guidelines on scientific assessment of these claims. A new approach for a strict substantiation of health issues in selected fields: the Regulation (EC) No. 1924/2006 established in fact that health claims applications should only be authorized after a high level of scientific validation conducted by EFSA using appropriate measures in this evaluation. The legislation should not only protect consumers but also define specific research areas with appropriate outcome measures to assess the quality, relevance and adequacy of studies conducted for scientific validation of health claims. The new system was not only a necessary support for consumers to make the correct choice of products, but rather a way for EFSA to demonstrate transparency of this new approach. This was the field of the pharmaceutical industry, this new regulation is, therefore, also for EFSA, an expensive learning process.

[The issues of the enhancement of the organization of the antituberculous service functioning].

The shortcomings of the normative legal base impeding the enhancement of the national antituberculous service effectiveness is analyzed on the basis of the long-term practical experience. The conclusion is derived that in Russia the actual normative legal policy of Rospotrebnadzor in the first instance led to the deterioration of the tuberculosis epidemiological situation on the national level. These problems require immediate appropriate activities from the part of the Russian government and Duma as well.

Editorial: a view from beneath: community health insurance in Africa.

This paper presents an overview of the development of Community Health Insurance (CHI) in sub-Saharan Africa. In 2003, nearly 600 CHI initiatives were registered in a dozen countries of francophone West Africa alone. At regional level, coordination networks have been created in Africa with the aim to support and monitor the developments of this innovative model of health care financing. At national level, governments are preparing the necessary legal frameworks for CHI implementation. CHI is increasingly seen as a strategy to meet other development goals than only health. It constitutes an interesting model to finance health care, to pool financial resources in a fair way and to empower health care users. The CHI movement however still faces many challenges. The relevance of more professional inputs in the management of CHI and the need for careful subsidy of CHI schemes are increasingly recognized. There is also need to optimize the relationship of CHI with the other actors in the health system and to scale-up CHI so as to gain in effectiveness and efficiency. The boom in the number of schemes in Africa during the last years is an indicator of the increasing attractiveness of the model. In practice however, enrolment rates per scheme remain low or are only slowly increasing. Context-specific research is needed on the reasons that prevent people from enrolling in larger numbers. On that basis, relevant action to be taken locally can be identified.

Research methodology: implications for CAM pain research.

The National Cancer Institute's Office of Cancer Complementary and Alternative Medicine established a series of expert panels to develop the state of the science in research methodologies in CAM cancer research. Panelists from both conventional and CAM research draw on their expertise in their relative fields to apply their knowledge and expertise to specific topic areas within cancer CAM. The first panel is focused on cancer symptom research. The discussion and conclusions raised by this panel primarily address pain research but are applicable to other symptoms as well. This article will focus on the panel presentations that are most applicable to CAM pain research in both cancer and noncareer pain populations, identifying the major challenges and conclusions offered by the panelists.