Aperfeiçoamento das competências e habilidades dos agentes de combate a endemias como ferramenta para o combate a dengue

Abstract

In Brazil, dengue remains as an important health problem because it has an epidemic potential, affecting the entire territory. In Minas Gerais, there is a strong planning and public health actions focused on this topic. The city of Betim, in the first half of 2019, stood out when facing a major dengue epidemic. According to the Epidemiological Surveillance Secretary, 51,341 suspected cases of the disease were registered, of which 42,989 confirmed cases and 18 deaths. In order to face this problem, there is an emphasis on the Agents for Combating Endemic Diseases (ACE). These professionals act at the front line, implementing the service actions in the community and exercising surveillance activities as prevention and control of arboviruses, besides health promotion. A pilot project is here presented in order to: mitigate the aggravating problem, improve the skills of these professionals, achieve a better level of health care services and reduce the problems caused by the vector, including the number of dengue cases. Initially, Endemic Combat Agents located in the Centro 1 team will be prioritized. The project aims to train the Centro 1 Team’s ACEs in order to enhance their actions to prevent the proliferation of dengue in the central area of Betim. With regard to the methodology used, workshops on group dynamics are proposed to stimulate the development of skills and competences of the ACEs, such as communication, commitment, empathy, and persuasion, characteristics considered fundamental for the promotion, prevention and assistance to residents. Thus, the objective is to develop a work of raising awareness, valuing and training agents in order to result in a constructive development, so that they are able to achieve significant learning about the theme and consequently be agents of changes in their daily practice.