Memorias do Instituto Oswaldo Cruz (Jul 2010)

Accessibility to and utilisation of schistosomiasis-related health services in a rural area of state of Minas Gerais, Brazil

  • Dener Carlos dos Reis,
  • Helmut Kloos,
  • Charles King,
  • Humberto Ferreira Oliveira Quites,
  • Leonardo Ferreira Matoso,
  • Kellen Rosa Coelho,
  • Andrea Gazzinelli

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1590/S0074-02762010000400039
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 105, no. 4
pp. 587 – 597

Abstract

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The objective of the present paper was to compare accessibility and utilisation of schistosomiasis diagnostic and treatment services in a small village and the surrounding rural area in northern part of the state of Minas Gerais Brazil. The study included 1,228 individuals: 935 central village residents and 293 rural residents of São Pedro do Jequitinhonha. Schistosoma mansoni infection rates were significantly higher in the central village than in the rural area during a survey in 2007 (44.3% and 23.5%, respectively) and during the 2002 schistosomiasis case-finding campaign (33.1% and 26.5%, respectively) (p < 0.001). However, during the 2002-2006 period, only 23.7% of the villagers and 27% of the rural residents obtained tests on their own from health centres, hospitals and private clinics in various nearby towns. In 2007, 63% of the villagers and 70.5% of the rural residents reported never having received treatment for schistosomiasis. This paper reveals considerable variation in the accessibility and utilisation of schistosomiasis-related health services between the central village and the rural area. A combination of low utilisation rates between 2002-2006 and persistently high S. mansoni infection rates suggest that the schistosomiasis control program must be more rapidly incorporated into the primary health services.

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