Cervical cancer guidelines, prevention and screening strategies: experiences from Brazil and Chile

This article analyzes cervical cancer control policies and actions in Brazil and Chile, focusing on prevention and screening. We adopted a comparative approach to identify similarities and differences in guidelines and cervical cancer prevention and screening strategies between the two countries. We used the following data collection techniques: analysis of official documents and secondary data, consultations with experts, government officials and program coordinators, and literature review. The findings show that Chile has a well-structured program with centralized decision-making and a system that permits monitoring of actions. Brazil on the other hand faces ongoing issues with lack of coordination and shortcomings in the follow-up of women with abnormal test results. The following challenges to consolidating cervical cancer screening stand out in Brazil: lack of active tracking of the target population; absence of a test quality assurance system; and inadequate follow-up of women with abnormal test results. Both countries need to increase coverage and implement organized screening.

Vaccine hesitancy in the global south: Towards a critical perspective on global health

The complex phenomenon of vaccine hesitancy has been causing increasing global concern. This systematic review aims at analysing the state of art of scientific literature concerning vaccine hesitancy in Latin America and Africa, observing if: (i) they use the same research trends as the global North; and (ii) the parameters recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO) and taken from the experience of the global North are adequate to the Global South's context. This review analyses empirical, qualitative, quantitative, or mixed-study publications, from 2015 to 2020, available at five different databases. The studies produced in the Global South bring up important context-specific issues, such as issues of access (that are not included in the WHO's definition of vaccine hesitancy), cultural and religious issues, reactions to governments, reactions to recent episodes of vaccine tests on populations, and reactions to past of colonial violence. Initiatives to understand the phenomenon based on methodological and conceptual frameworks from the global North alone can cause wrongful conclusions.

Preciso mesmo tomar vacina? Informação e conhecimentosobre vacinasno adolescer

Objetivo: descrever o conhecimento de adolescentes do 9o ano do ensino fundamental de escolas públicas sobre vacinas, as doenças imunopreveníveis e as doenças transmissíveis.Métodos: Estudo epidemiológico transversal, descritivo, desenvolvido com 605 adolescentes de 22 escolas públicas de um município de grande porte do Estado de Minas Gerais, Brasil.Resultados: as fontes de informação mais citadas pelos adolescentes sobre infecções transmissíveis e formas de prevenção foram a escola (65,1%), comunicação de massa (48,4%), e pai e mãe (29,9%). Sobre o conhecimento de infecções/doenças imunopreveníveis, 61,5% dos adolescentes citaram a febre amarela (FA) e 5,6% o papilomavírus humano (HPV). Ademais, 60,7% relataram serem vacinado contra a paralisia infantil, 56% contra a FA, e 5% contra o HPV. A cobertura vacinal média identificada na coleta de dados foi de 45,1%, aumentando para 91% após a vacinação. Considerando as respostas dos adolescentes sobre as vacinas presentes no cartão e qual imunobiológico já tivesse vacinado, a análise de Kappa evidenciou concordância substancial em relação à vacina contra FA e concordância moderada entre as demais vacinas.Conclusão: Evidenciou-se: (des)informação dos adolescentes sobre vacinas, doenças transmissíveis e as imunopreveníveis; baixa cobertura vacinal (41%); a comunicação/informação em saúde foram efetivas na decisão dos adolescentes de se vacinarem, aumentando a cobertura vacinal (91%).