Recommendations to strengthen primary health care in Brazil
Objective.
To formulate strategic recommendations to strengthen primary health care (PHC) in Brazil’s Unified Health System (SUS) based on expert consultation.
Comparative analysis of policies regulating clinical trials
The present article compares clinical trial regulations in Brazil, India, Canada, and the European Union with the aim of providing evidence for an evaluation of the Brazilian regulatory policy. For that, a document analysis approach was used, in four steps: preliminary exploratory analysis; descriptive study; categorization of information; contrasting contents. Noteworthy differences between the Brazilian regulatory framework as compared to the other regions studied include the existence of several laws and regulations in Brazil vs.
Determinants of sputum smear nonconversion in smear-positive pulmonary tuberculosis patients in Suriname, 2010 – 2015
Objective.
To identify factors associated with sputum smear nonconversion in patients with pulmonary tuberculosis (PTB) in Suriname.
Factors associated with mortality in persons co-infected with tuberculosis and HIV in Suriname: a retrospective cohort study
Objective.
To identify socio-demographic and clinical factors associated with mortality among persons with tuberculosis (TB) and TB/HIV co-infection in Suriname.
Methods.
This was a retrospective cohort study using data from the national TB and HIV databases for 2010 – 2015. The survival probability of TB and TB/HIV co-infected patients was analyzed using the Kaplan-Meier estimates and the log-rank test. A Cox proportional hazard model was applied.
Factors associated with tuberculosis mortality in Paraguay, 2015-2016
Objective.
To describe the socio-demographic and clinical-epidemiological characteristics and to determine the factors associated with the mortality of people diagnosed with tuberculosis (TB) in Paraguay.
Prevalence of comorbidity tuberculosis and diabetes mellitus in Paraguay, 2016 and 2017
Objective.
To estimate the national and regional prevalence of tuberculosis (TB) and diabetes mellitus (DM) co-morbidity and identify the factors associated with this co-morbidity in Paraguay.
Tuberculosis in children and adolescents in Ecuador: analysis of reporting, disease characteristics and treatment outcome
Objectives.
To estimate the tuberculosis (TB) burden in children under 15 years of age and to describe the clinical and epidemiological characteristics and the results of the anti-tuberculosis treatment in Ecuador.
Methods.
A retrospective study was carried out using data from the national TB programm for 2015 and 2016. The rate and percentage of cases of childhood TB were estimated and the disease characteristics and treatment outcome were described according to age categories: 0-4, 5-9 and 10-14 years.
Loss to follow-up in patients treated for multidrug-resistant tuberculosis in Ecuador
Objective
Determine the incidence of loss to follow-up (LTFU) in patients treated for rifampicin-resistant tuberculosis (RR-TB) or multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (RR/MDR-TB), and the factors associated with this discharge status in Ecuador.
Factors associated with completion of isoniazid preventive therapy in children in Quito, Ecuador (2014-2016 and 2018)
Objective
Determine the percentage of children under 5 years of age who completed isoniazid preventive therapy (IPT) in health facilities in Quito, Ecuador, and assess related factors.
Methods
Operations research with cohort design. Data were obtained from treatment reports on children in IPT between 2014 and 2016, and from ad hoc surveys of caregivers of children who received IPT in 2018.
