EDITORIAL
José da Rocha Carvalheiro
This issue of the Revista Brasileira de Epidemiologia may become a landmark in its history. It is the first to be published after its inclusion in the SciELO Platform. From now on, papers published will be more widely acknowledged, at least in the American continent, particularly in Latin America.
The main reason for being included in SciELO is very much alive in this issue. The papers published consolidate what has been happening this year, since we began to meet deadlines and started to publish issues in the same face month. All papers are originals that have gone through the conventional peer review by one Associate Editor. As it has been repeatedly pointed out by the editors, the RBE is gradually gaining unique features: none of the papers is signed by just one author, the average number of authors is 3.2; there is a wide range of themes, of geographic origins and institutional affiliations.
One paper on mortality due to hypertension in women in the city of São Paulo, brings an auspicious novelty: the first author is a Scientific Initiation student and the co-authors are true icons in mortality studies in Brazil, all of them from USP's School of Public Health. They contribute to a gain in information on mortality through the preparation of a "New Death Certificate" using their own methodology.
From Universidade Federal da Bahia, in an association between Physical Education and Collective Health, we have a suggestion to use a "conicity index" to discriminate coronary risk. The authors analyzed the sensitivity and specificity of this index in a cross-sectional sample so as to find the best cut-off point.
From Minas Gerais, in an association between Universidade Federal de Juiz de Fora with UFMG, a study focuses on child malnutrition and environmental factors in invaded areas. It is another cross-sectional sample, with family interviews.
A study on patient records of an emergency facility in Recife, Pernambuco, analyzes the results of municipalization of health on the "epidemiological profile" of demand. The authors are from the State Health Department and from Aggeu Magalhães Research Center, associated to FIOCRUZ.
Decentralization, in this case of health surveillance actions, is the object of a study conducted in cities with full management of the Health System in Rio de Janeiro. The authors belong to the State Health Department and, through a qualitative method that associates a questionnaire to participating observation, they detected "huge difficulties" in the performance of these decentralized actions.
The other four studies are all on transmissible diseases.
Two of them comprise the Series on Endemics and Epidemics, that we started in issue 5(2) of RBE. One is related to Tegumentar Leishmaniasis, in an association between the Center of Tropical Medicine of the Rondônia State Health Department, and USP's Institute of Biomedical Sciences. The other one, from René Rachou Research Center of FIOCRUZ in Belo Horizonte, and of UFMG, is about Visceral Leishmaniasis.
A third paper analyzes "the epidemiological profile" of demand of an STD/ HIV Testing and Counseling Center in the City of São Paulo. Most of the authors work for the City Health Department; one is from the Social Medicine Department of Santa Casa de Misericórdia; and the other is from USP's School of Public Health.
Finally, there is one study from Rosário, Argentina, whose authors work at the City Epidemiology System of the Public Health Department, which addresses prevention strategies for dengue. We should be reminded of the tradition in scientific production of this Department, which, among many other similar activities, organizes regular scientific congresses.
In the Opinion Section, which we want to make increasingly permanent, we give the floor to a Spanish "medico general", Juan Gérvas. Reading his text explains the reason why we prefer to keep his occupation in Spanish. He practices medicine in a town close to Madrid (Canencia de la Serra), and is part of a group that provides primary care, and is engaged in education and research in Spain (CESCA). He is also a guest lecturer at the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health (Baltimore). The text published here was his contribution to an International Seminar on Basic Health Care, held in Brasília, in December 2003, organized by the WHO and UNICEF to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Alma Ata Declaration.
Some of the speakers in this meeting were authorities like Halfdam Mahler, General Director of the WHO in 1978, the main person responsible for the organization of the Alma Ata Meeting, the current director Lee Jong-wook, and the PAHO Director, Mirta Roses, in addition to Minister Humberto Costa. One of the highlights was the presentation by the African representative and, especially, the talk by this European physician that set the context for the current status of primary health care in Europe. He referred to the evidence obtained by an "epidemiological study with an ecological design" when he associated better health status to the presence of "strong" Primary Health Care. When talking about "quaternary prevention", he made a witty comparison with the epidemiological method: he suggested combining in a constructive manner the negative predictive value of the practice of general practitioners with the positive predictive value of specialist practice. This contribution, which we now offer to our readers, makes us say that we would gain a lot if we established closer bonds with this Spanish group, at least to learn what they call "strong" Primary Health Care and their concept of "quaternary".
Enjoy your reading.
The Editor
Publication Dates
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Publication in this collection
18 June 2007 -
Date of issue
Sept 2004
