The injury surveillance system based on sentinel health services

• Published in: Ciência & saude coletiva 2006-01, Vol.11, p.1269
• Main Authors: Vilma Pinheiro Gawryszewski, Marta Maria Alves da Silva, Deborah Carvalho Malta, Márcio Denis Medeiros Mascarenhas, Valter Chaves Costa, Sônia Gesteira e Matos, Otaliba Libânio de Moraes Neto, Rosane Aparecida Monteiro, Cynthia Gazal Carvalho
• Format: Article
• Language: Portuguese
• Subjects: Health services; Injuries; Reference services; Surveillance; Violence
• ISSN: 1413-8123; 1678-4561
• DOI: 10.1590/S1413-81232006000500016

In Brazil, the official data sets allow monitoring the impact of injury deaths and injury hospitalization in the public health system. But it is necessary to gather more information about the magnitude and the characteristics of injuries at Emergency Departments (ED), as well as to identify some hidden problems, such as domestic and sexual violence. The purpose of this article is to present the new Injury Surveillance System based on Sentinel Health Services, carried out by the Ministry of Health in order to broaden the knowledge of these causes.To have a more accurate picture of injuries and to enforce the law which made mandatory the information about violence against women in the country, the measures to be taken were twofold: 1) injury surveillance in ED, carried out in chosen services, collecting one-month data yearly, through a sample; 2) domestic, sexual and interpersonal violence surveillance carried out in violence reference services, through universal and continuous data collection, involving a larger number of services. The implementation of that Health Sentinel Services Network has been conducted by the Ministry of Health in partnership with the State and Municipal Health Departments based on pre-established criteria. The adherence to the project has been taken place all over Brazil.