Abstract

Indicadores de saúde e ambiente: relatório da Oficina de Trabalho realizada durante o IV Congresso Brasileiro de Epidemiologia - EPIRIO-98. Inf. Epidemiol. Sus [online]. 1998, vol.7, n.2, pp.45-53. ISSN 0104-1673.  http://dx.doi.org/10.5123/S0104-16731998000200005.

This workshop was an important opportunity to discuss theoretical and conceptual questions on health and environmental indicators, and the need for its development during this special period of the structural organization of the "Project VIGISUS" (Health Surveillance Project), which has a component on Environmental Surveillance. Among others, the main questions reviewed during the workshop are summarized as follows: in the formulation of indicators the specific views of different disciplinary areas on health and environment must be respected and social participation should play a central role in the process of the definition of indicators and in the use of this information; there are information and several indicators on environmental quality, human exposure and health effects related to the environment that already exist and are relevant and must continue to be used. Some examples are: percentage of the population that has access to basic sanitation services (drinking water excreta disposal and urban waste recollection), presence of vectors of pecifc diseases and level of pollutants in the environment; some indicators that already exist must be modified or can be used, in order to generate new and more relevant onesfor environmental health surveillance. For example: indicators on the quality of the water at the point its reaches the consumer, indicators on animal populations of importance for disease transmission, indicators on economic activities, and indicators on the environmental pollutants of importance for public health; finally, to continue the activities that already started in this workshop, it is recommended to establish a multidisciplinary and inter-institutional group to study, discuss and elaborate indicators on health and environment in Brazil.

Keywords : Surveillance Environmental Indicators; Health and Environment; Integrated Action.

        · abstract in Portuguese     · text in Portuguese     · Portuguese ( pdf )