The information system and tuberculosis control on prioritary cities of Paraiba - Brazil

Abstract

This article had the purpose to understand the perception of the coordinators of the Tuberculosis Control Program regarding the use of the Notification Aggravation Information System - Sistema de Informação de Agravos de Notificação (SINAN) as an instrument of the DOTS (Directly Observed Treatment) Strategy. This qualitative study used semi-structured interviews, with eight coordinators of the Tuberculosis Control Program in six cities of the state of Paraíba. The results showed that the cities use the SINAN to evaluate actions to control tuberculosis, pointing to difficulties such as failure to fill out the tuberculosis notification sheets, precarious computer infrastructure, insufficient qualification of human resources, lack of integration between professionals from different sectors and deficiencies in the information flow between healthcare units and cities. Considering that the quality of the information can jeopardize the monitoring of the results of treatments for patients, and consequently the efficiency of the DOTS strategy, it is concluded that the political commitment of the administration is fundamental to overcome the identified weaknesses.