Revista panamericana de salud pública = Pan American journal of public health
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To analyze home care services in Cuba and determine how length of stay, per-day cost, and per-patient cost vary by diagnosis and by the area of the country in which the services are rendered. ⋯ A longer length of stay was observed in the mountainous rural area; however, this was where the lowest per-patient and per-day costs were incurred. Length of stay can be used as an indicator for measuring the quality of home care services. From a cost perspective, length of stay must be evaluated based on diagnosis and geographic area.
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The constitution of Brazil directs that the country's health system, the Unified Health System (Sistema Unico de Saúde), be politically and administratively decentralized. Nevertheless, handing over competencies, responsibilities, and resources to subnational levels, especially to municipal governments, has been a slow process, lasting almost two decades. Advances have been brought about by the Unified Health System, which, from a analytical perspective, is a public and universal system. ⋯ The subnational levels have consistently faced difficulties in performing their macromanagement functions with autonomy, especially when it comes to financing and to the establishment or organization of health care networks. Boldness and responsibility will be needed to prevent Brazil's health decentralization process from leading to fragmentation. New political agreements between different levels of government, with a reassignment of responsibilities and the enhancement of a culture of technical cooperation, are fundamental requisites to making the Unified Health System have a health policy that is truly public and universal.
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Rev. Panam. Salud Publica · May 2006
[Relationship between determining factors for depressive symptoms and for dietary habits in older adults in Mexico].
To determine the factors that are commonly associated with both the dietary habits of older adults living in the community and depressive symptoms in this group. ⋯ A number of determining factors for depressive symptoms and the results obtained on the GDS resemble the factors that determine poor dietary habits among older adults. The potential existence of common causative mechanisms calls attention to the need for designing interventions aimed at preventing both types of problems and their negative consequences. These results confirm the need to take dietary habits and other parameters into account when studying depression in older adults.
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Rev. Panam. Salud Publica · Apr 2006
Comparative StudyAssessment of the performance of a definition of a suspected measles case: implications for measles surveillance.
To assess the performance, in Brazil, of the definition of a suspected measles case among patients with rash diseases that has been adopted in Brazil and many other countries. ⋯ Our results show that the suspected measles case definition adopted in Brazil is extremely sensitive for measles surveillance among patients with rash diseases. However, the high false-positive rates that were found may result in a substantial number of other rash diseases being misclassified as measles, leading to the misdirection of control measures and increases in their cost.
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Rev. Panam. Salud Publica · Feb 2006
[The Pan American Health Organization's gender equality policy].
The 46th Directing Council of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) approved this past September a document entitled " Proposed PAHO gender equality policy" and urged Member States to implement specific policies accordingly, in collaboration with other government sectors, international organizations, and interested parties from civil society. The approved policy is rooted in principles of gender equality and gender equity, the empowerment of men and women, respect for diversity, and gender mainstreaming. ⋯ The aim is among other things, to attain the highest possible health and well-being for men and women during their whole life cycle, as well as in all population groups. Hopefully these measures will help propel the Region toward the attainment of true gender equality.