Notification of juvenile violence in Emergency Services of the Brazilian Unified Health System in Feira de Santana, Bahia, Brazil.

Objective: To analyze the performance of professionals in the Emergency Units for the notification of cases of violence against children, considering sociodemographic characteristics, professional category and difficulties.

Methods: Cross-sectional study with a simple random sample (n=200), selected from the universe of professionals (n=523) of these Emergency Units in Feira de Santana, Bahia, Brazil, from a regional general hospital and six polyclinics. Bivariate analyses and measures of association were performed to determine statistical significance.

[Surveillance System for Violence and Accidents (VIVA) and notification of infant-juvenile violence in the Brazilian Unified Health System (SUS) in Feira de Santana in the state of Bahia].

The scope of the study is to analyze data of children and adolescents who are the victims of different forms of violence, registered in the Surveillance System for Violence and Accidents (VIVA/MS) in Feira de Santana in the state of Bahia, Brazil. The total number of records, since the implementation of VIVA in the city (01/2009 to 01/2011) was used and the analyses sought associations between characteristics of violence and profiles of victims and perpetrators. The results showed that children and adolescents were molested using different types of violence, including the use of physical force, verbal threats and weapons and sundry cases of personal injury.