Apreciação normativa das ações desenvolvidas pela Diretoria de Vigilância Epidemiológica da Secretaria de Saúde do Estado da Bahia no enfrentamento da COVID-19.

Abstract

Declared as a pandemic, COVID-19 determines specific actions that have caused changes in the form of organization of the work of the Directorate of Epidemiological Surveillance of the Department of Health of the State of Bahia - DIVEP/SESAB, with a view to the timely generation of information on the magnitude and distribution of cases and deaths from this disease in the territory of Bahia. Thus, the present study aims to evaluate the actions developed by the Directorate of Epidemiological Surveillance of the Health Department of the State of Bahia in confronting COVID-19 according to the International Health Regulation-2005. This is an evaluative study of the normative appraisal type. A logical model and respective judgment matrix were prepared, adapted from the State Contingency Plan for Confronting the New Coronavirus and the studies by Costa (2013) and Santos (2014). For the production and analysis of data, documental analysis and semi-structured interviews were carried out with technicians and managers of the Epidemiological Surveillance Board of the Bahia State Health Department, who carry out COVID-19 epidemiological surveillance actions. In the analysis and judgment matrix, the following sub-dimensions were evaluated: inputs; management and development of the actions of the Epidemiological Surveillance Board of the Bahia State Health Department and quality of health information systems. In general, DIVEP/SESAB performs its actions in accordance with the International Health Regulations,having a specialized coordination in public health; teams dedicated to the bulletin and to carry out the investigation of confirmed cases and deaths with experience in epidemiological surveillance; administrative support team, in addition to a reference laboratory, sufficient standards, materials and equipment. The management produces daily epidemiological bulletins and also carries out annual planning activities, educational activities, monitoring meetings and actions with other programs about COVID-19. To monitor the rumors about occurrences of suspected cases of COVID-19, the main national and international websites, notifications sent to institutional emails and telephones, social networking applications and official information systems are investigated. Regarding the quality of the systems, the team considers the FORMSUS, GAL and SIVEPGRIPE systems to be functional and reliable; easy, efficient and well-maintained FORMSUS and FORMSUS and SIVEPGRIPE with portability. To improve the work process, it is worth highlighting the need to hire more professionals and discuss with the team the importance of the International Health Regulations 2005.