ABSTRACT
Objective:
The purpose of this study was to promote the teaching of trachoma and to act in the combat of this leading cause of preventable blindness.
Methods:
This proposal was approved by the Ministry of Health (PET Program - Health/Health Surveillance), predicting the service training of medicine and nursing graduate students and health workers, in Botucatu, Sao Paulo - Brazil, in 2010. The training covered theory and practice, which consisted of cross-sectional study, with a randomized sampling to study the prevalence of inflammatory trachoma in schoolchildren from first to 4th grades of public elementary schools, following the World Health Organization criteria (WHO) and the supervision of two certified ophthalmologists for clinical diagnosis.The data were statistically analyzed. The staff was evaluated for learning.
Results:
The fieldwork showed that the prevalence of trachoma in children of Botucatu in 2010 was 3.42%. Compulsory notification, the communicants search, the treatment application to the affected and the follow-up as standardized happened with the active participation of staff.
Conclusion:
The prevalence of inflammatory trachoma in Botucatu in 2010 was 3.42%.The activities developed by the participants of PET Program - Health/Health Surveillance - Trachoma allowed effective training in service, resulting in the formation of multipliers, an additional force in the fight for the elimination of trachoma as a blindness cause.
Keywords:
Trachoma/prevention & control; Trachoma/epidemiology; School health; Health education; Child; Epidemiologic surveillance