The incorporation of activities to control dengue by community health agents

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the performance of Community Health Agents when dengue control activities were added to their tasks. METHODS: Performance was measured comparing the evolution of selected indicators from the Brazilian National Dengue Control Program and the Family Health Strategy for 2002 to 2008 in the municipality of Sao Gabriel do Oeste, MS, Central Western Brazil, with those of Rio Verde de Mato Grosso, neighboring municipality with demographic, socioeconomic and health services similarities. Data were collected from municipal databases of the Information System for Yellow Fever and Dengue and the Information System for Primary Healthcare of the Mato Grosso do Sul State Health Office. The variables selected for the family health strategy activities were: monthly home visits, pregnant women whose antenatal care began in the first trimester, children under one with up-to-date vaccinations and hypertensive patients. Those selected for the Brazilian National Dengue Control Program were: properties inspected with Aedes aegypti and properties not inspected. RESULTS: The two municipalities maintained a similar trend in dengue control indicators in the period studied. With regard to the Family Health Strategy, in 2002 Sao Gabriel do Oeste was better off in three of the four indicators studied, however, this situation was reversed at the end of the period when the county was overtaken by Rio Verde de Mato Grosso in three of the four indicators analyzed, including, the monthly average community health worker visits per registered family, the main activity of a Family Health Strategy agent. CONCLUSIONS: Incorporating the National Dengue Control Program into the Family Health Strategy is viable and developed without prejudice to dengue control activities, however, the same did not occur with the activities of family health in Sao Gabriel do Oeste. The additional workload of the community health workers is the most likely hypothesis for the declining performance of these agents in the Family Health Strategy activities.