Abstract

MACEDO, Vilma Costa de; BEZERRA, Adriana Falangola Benjamin; FRIAS, Paulo Germano de  and  ANDRADE, Carla Lourenço Tavares de. Evaluation of measures to prevent vertical transmission of HIV and syphilis in public maternity hospitals in four municipalities in Northeast Brazil. Cad. Saúde Pública [online]. 2009, vol.25, n.8, pp. 1679-1692. ISSN 0102-311X.  http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/S0102-311X2009000800004.

This article evaluates the care provided to women in four public maternity hospitals in Northeast Brazil in relation to interventions adopted by the Projeto Nascer to reduce vertical transmission of HIV and syphilis in 2005. This was a multiple case study including one retrospective and another cross-sectional approach. The logical model for the intervention has five components: prevention, epidemiological surveillance, and pharmaceutical, laboratory, and clinical care. For each component, structure and process indicators were selected. The maternity hospitals were classified as: acceptable, partially implemented, unacceptable, and not implemented. The highest adherence to the standards was in maternity hospital A (62.5%), classified as partially implemented, and the lowest in maternity hospital C (30.6%), considered unacceptable. The study highlights the importance of preventive measures, epidemiological surveillance, and pharmaceutical, laboratory, and clinical care to reduce vertical transmission of HIV and syphilis.

Keywords : Health Evaluation; Vertical Disease Transmission; HIV; Syphilis.