PURPOSE: to analyze trends in the distribution of speech therapists in Minas Gerais from 2005 to 2010. METHOD: it is a retrospective study, in which a secondary database of public domain - Reports in Health Information of Brazilian Health Information System, called DATASUS was analysed. It was considered data from 853 municipalities in Minas Gerais, highlighting the resource indicators related to the number of speech therapist, the number of professionals in the Minas Gerais macro regions, the population of these spaces, the binding of the speech therapists to the Public Health System (SUS) and the trends distribution of these professionals from 2005 to 2010. RESULTS: from 2005 to 2010, there was a significant increasing in the number of speech therapists. The number of municipalities with speech therapist raised from 32,8% to 54,5%. Since 2008, marked as the peak of professional growth, there was an increase about 25%. The number of speech therapist per 10.000 inhabitants increased from 0,61 in 2005 to 1,30 in 2010. CONCLUSION: there was a considerable increase in the distribution of speech therapists in the searched state, rising from 1237 professionals in 2005 to 2555 professionals in 2010. In 2005, 278 of the municipalities had a speech therapist in the health care. Five years later, there was an increase of 186 municipalities with speech therapist, indicating greater availability of this professional for the mining population. Although the data from this study reinforce the accessibility and professional presence in Minas Gerais, it was notable regional discrepancy in the state.
Speech; Language and Hearing Sciences; Unified Health System; Family Health Program; Public Health; Public Policies
