Situação vacinal dos agentes comunitários de saúde de um município do Recôncavo da Bahia

Abstract

The Community Health Agent (CHA) occupies a unique and contradictory position in primary health care work: on the one hand, he is a member of the working class, where he acts as a facilitator in creating bonds with the community and expanding access to health services at the health unit; on the other hand, he is a member of the community itself, and as such, a user of public health services, and therefore must keep his vaccination card up to date. Thus, this study aimed to analyze the vaccination status of CHAs in primary health care in the municipality of Santo Antônio de Jesus, Bahia. This is a quantitative, cross-sectional, exploratory census-type study. Data collection was carried out with 121 CHAs from the municipality of Santo Antônio de Jesus, Bahia, and used a specific questionnaire with variables of interest after approval by the CEP/UEFS. Data analysis was described and explored with calculations of simple frequencies and prevalence using SPSS. The population studied was predominantly female (89.4%), with a predominance of the 31-40 age group (52.1%). Regarding the variable availability of PPE, 58.7% reported that they did not have any. Regarding vaccination aspects, only 19.5% of all CHAs interviewed (121) had their adult vaccination card up to date, 80.5% had an incomplete vaccination schedule, and 4.2% of adult workers did not have any doses of the immunobiologicals proposed by the PNI. Regarding the presence of a complete schedule and gender, it was observed that 21.0% of women had the complete schedule proposed, while men had only 7.7% of the vaccination schedule completed. It is known, however, that in the ACS work process there is observation and guidance of the population regarding the maintenance of a complete vaccination card; however, the reality for their self-care has proven to be contradictory and indicative of an inadequate health situation for these workers.