Unified Medical Care Sector: creation, purposes, contribution to health surveillance, and perspectives

Abstract

We are witnessing a complex epidemiological transition with the emergence of previously unknown infectious diseases, and the re-emergence of diseases that were believed to be under control, with aging and climate change as important factors of vulnerability. The Instituto Evandro Chagas created the Unified Medical Care Sector (Setor de Atendimento Médico Unificado) to strengthen its health surveillance mission. This was a result of patients demand for diagnostic clarification of infectious diseases with an emphasis on prolonged fever. During the ninth year of its creation, the Sector has had 34,057 hospital visits and an annual average of 3,700 patients. From this data, valuable information was extracted for epidemiological surveillance and for strengthening understanding about emerging diseases. The data for typhoid fever and Chagas disease, two leading causes of fever in the region, were striking. In the previous five years, 308 cases of typhoid fever was recorded and there was an annual average of 15 micro-epidemic outbreaks of Chagas disease. The identification of diseases trigger the investigations in partnership with the State and Municipal Health Secretariats for quick diagnosis. Moreover, it supports the generation of scientific evidence potentially applicable to health attention and prevention. Thus, the creation of the medical-diagnostic attention service in a medical research institution has not only strengthened the researches that generate knowledge but also the rapid diagnostic response to regional endemic diseases. Furthermore, it has enabled the researches on immediate application of results to relatively neglected populations, which is in line with the institutional commitment to public health.