Evaluation of the Decentralization of the Tuberculosis Control Program from Secondary to Primary Level in the Health System of Dourados-MS

The objective of this study was to evaluate the decentralization of the actions for tuberculosis control from the secondary to the primary level in the health system of the city of Dourados (Central-West region of Brazil), accomplished through the implementation of the Programa Nacional de Controle da Tuberculose (PNCT - Tuberculosis Control National Program), from 2003 to 2006. The research consisted of a normative evaluation with the use of secondary data in order to learn about the context and results of the developed actions. Structure, process and results were used as analysis categories. When analyzing the decentralization process, it was possible to observe changes in the care provided for users, concerning not only the improved access, but mainly the attitude of the health professionals, evidenced by a significant increase in the search for respiratory symptomatic individuals, in sputum collection for bacilloscopy and in the detection of bacillary patients among the total lung cases that were found. However, these advancements did not bring the expected results to the city, which indicates the existence of fragilities or knowledge gaps that compromised the efforts made in the development of the program's actions.