OBJECTIVE:

To analyze the effectiveness of the Schistosomiasis Surveillance and Control Program (Programa de Controle da Esquistossomose - PCE) in Brazil based on the evaluation of epidemiological indicators defined by the Ministry of Health.

MATERIALS AND METHODS:

Descriptive, retrospective, and cross-sectional study, with secondary data from the Schistosomiasis Surveillance and Control Program Information System, from 1995 to 2017, collected in the repository of the Department of Informatics of the Unified Health System. The applied statistical analysis combined descriptive and multivariate techniques.

RESULTS:

The Program provided materials for 35,273,093 tests and carried out 26,931,020 exams. It was found that the operational actions decreased from 2007. The percentage of positivity for the disease was reduced by 17.60% as to the initial period. In endemic and focal transmission areas, positivity was below 5% at the end of the series.

CONCLUSION:

Despite the epidemiological indicators stabilization during the period, there is no way to infer that it is due to the effectiveness of the PCE since there is no information prior to the application of the policy and progressive operational reduction, which may underestimate the magnitude of the indicators.