Comparative study of some health indicators in municipalities of the State of São Paulo in accordance to the implementation of the Family Health Program

Abstract

The purpose of the study is to describe comparatively the behavior of three health indicators: infant mortality; vaccination coverage/abandonment rate of the DPT vaccine; and hospitalization of children under five years of age, in two groups of seven towns of the State of São Paulo each with similar socio-economic characteristics, but differentiated for having implemented the Family Health Program (Group A) and not implemented it (Group B group), using as parameters for such comparison the same health indicators for the State. The study used the calculations and the description of the indicators for each group of municipalities in the following topics and periods: infant mortality rates (1995-1997 and 1998-2000); basic vaccination coverage (from 1996 to 2000); abandonment rate of the DPT vaccine (1998-2000); and hospitalization of children under five years old (1998-2000). It was found that the introduction of the Family Health Program was one of the factors that contributed for the reduction of infant mortality rates and the rate of abandonment of the DPT vaccine.