Use of herbal medicinal products among patients in primary health care in a Brazilian southeastern city: evidence from the Prover project.

Objective: To determine the prevalence and factors associated with herbal medicinal product use among primary healthcare patients in southeastern Brazil.

Methods: A cross-sectional study combined with documentary research was conducted between August and November 2017, involving interviews with 1,221 adults following dispensing from primary healthcare units. The characterization of herbal medicinal product usage included assessing the prevalence, redundancy, and interaction indicators, as well as identifying sources of recommendation and acquisition.

An analysis of the essential medicines policy in primary care: Findings from MedMinas project.

Essential Medicines Policy (EMP) has been adopted in Brazil to improve the provision and use of pharmaceuticals. This mixed methods study aims to bring evidence of the EMP implemented in municipalities in the context of primary care in Minas Gerais (20,997,560 inhabitants), Southeast Brazil. We analysed the core output of the EMP, i.

Performance of a pharmaceutical services regionalization strategy policy in Minas Gerais, Brazil: Pre-post analysis from ERAF project.

In 2016, the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais (∼20 million people), implemented the ERAF policy ("Regionalization Strategy of Pharmaceutical Services") in an effort to improve medicine procurement and distribution within primary care. We evaluated the impact of the policy on three main goals: price reductions, volume increases, and expansion of therapeutic options. We analyzed the procurement data from the Integrated System of Management of Pharmaceutical Services database in 2012 and 2018.

MedMinas project: design and use of mixed methods in the evaluation of pharmaceutical services in primary health care in Minas Gerais, Brazil.

Background: The main purposes of primary care-based pharmaceutical services (PHCPS) in Brazil are to provide free access to medicines and pharmaceutical care to patients. Several obstacles hinder achieving their goals; thus, MedMinas Project aimed to evaluate the PHCPS, the supply system, and the use of medicines. This paper reflects on our experience designing, planning, and conducting the project, describing the issues yielded in the field and lessons learned.

Immunodiagnostic methods: what is their role in areas of low endemicity?

Worldwide Schistosomiasis mansoni continues to be a serious public health problem. Over the past decades, control programmes have made remarkable progress in reducing S. mansoni infections to a relatively low level in Brazil and African countries.