Assistance to families with children and elderly, by health and family teams, in middle-sized cities

摘要

Family arrangements and some features of the Programa de Saúde da Família (PSF – Brazilian Health Family Program) in the east region of Maringá, Paraná State, were analyzed. A technique of proportional strata sampling was used by considering the number of families per area of residence and the age of family members, according to data from the Sistema de Informa??o da Aten??o Básica (SIAB – Basic Health Information System). Among 385 families, 52.71% have one or more members in the age group of major risk, out of which 58.62% are elderly, 9.35% are less than one year old and 42.86% are between 1 and 6 years old. Some families had only one member aged 60 or older, which required assistance from the Equipes Saúde da Família (ESF – Family Health Workers). In 35% of the families, the ESF visits occurred every three or two months or never occurred. The assistance of the ESF to children, mainly to those less than 1 year old shows that only 9 of 17 families with a member in that age group are being visited monthly. The number of families with children and elderly, engaged in health group activities, is small (20%). Those results suggest that one of the main purposes of PSF is not being attained. In face of those evidences, it seems urgent to rethink work process established in the ESF