Prenatal care and childbirth assistance in Amazonian women before and after the Pacific Highway Construction (2003-2011): a cross-sectional study.

Background: Attention to prenatal care and child delivery is important for the health of women and children, but in the Amazon these indicators tend to be historically unfavorable, in part by geographical and political isolation. In 2003 both Brazilian and Peru governments have finished paving an international road connecting remotes areas in the Brazilian Amazon to the Pacific coast in Peru.

Methods: The situation of prenatal care and child delivery with mothers of children under 5 years old living in the urban area of Assis Brasil, Acre was assessed in two cross-sectional studies performed in 2003 and 2011, corresponding to the period before and after the Pacific highway construction.

Stunting in children under five years old is still a health problem in the Western Brazilian Amazon: a population-based study in Assis Brasil, Acre, Brazil.

Despite the process of nutritional transition in Brazil, in some places, such as the Amazon region, stunting is still an important public health problem. We identified the prevalence and factors associated with stunting in children under five years old residing in the urban area of Assis Brasil. A survey was conducted in which a questionnaire on socioeconomic, maternal and children's conditions was applied, and height or length was measured.

Child Health in the Peruvian Amazon: Prevalence and Factors Associated with Referred Morbidity and Health Care Access in the City of Iñapari.

Introduction. Children under 5 years of age are more susceptible to developing morbidities such as diarrhea, respiratory infections, anemia, and malnutrition. The objective of the study is to evaluate the prevalence of reported morbidities in this age group in the city of Iñapari (Peru) and the access to health services in this municipality.

Socioeconomic inequities and hepatitis A virus infection in Western Brazilian Amazonian children: spatial distribution and associated factors.

Background: Hepatitis A is still a neglected health problem in the world. The most affected areas are the ones with disadvantaged socioeconomic conditions. In Brazil, seroprevalence studies showed that 64.

Hepatitis A seroprevalence in preschool children in Assis Brazil, Acre, Brazil, in 2003 and 2010.

Background: The Amazon region has the highest seroprevalence of hepatitis A virus (HAV) in Brazil.

Methods: In the present study, the seroprevalence of total HAV antibodies in two groups, composed of 147 and 254 children between 1 and 5 years old in Assis Brasil, Acre, was measured in 2003 and 2010, respectively, and compared with socio-economic changes in the city.

Results: In 2003, the HAV seroprevalence rate was 26.

Seroprevalence and seroconversion of dengue and implications for clinical diagnosis in amazonian children.

This study aimed to evaluate the prevalence of serum IgG dengue in children in an Amazonian population, to assess the seroconversion rate in 12 months, and to estimate how many seropositive children had a prior clinical diagnosis of dengue. We conducted a population-based study between 2010 and 2011, with children aged 6 months to 12 years that were living in the urban area of a small town in the Brazilian Amazon. The prevalence of IgG antibodies against dengue antigens was determined by indirect ELISA technique, and seronegative children were reexamined after 12 months to determine seroconversion rates.

Socioeconomic inequalities are still a barrier to full child vaccine coverage in the Brazilian Amazon: a cross-sectional study in Assis Brasil, Acre, Brazil.

Introduction: Vaccines are very important to reduce morbidity and mortality by preventable infectious diseases, especially during childhood. Optimal coverage is not always achieved, for several reasons. Here we assessed vaccine coverage for the first 12 months of age in children between 12 and 59 months old, residing in the urban area of a small Amazonian city, and factors associated with incomplete vaccination.

How we enhanced medical academics skills and reduced social inequities using an academic teaching program.

The training of future physicians should be concurrent with the development of different skills and attitudes. This warrants the need to regularly provide students with opportunities for self-development throughout their academic career. This approach was exemplified in a medical school in the Brazilian Amazon, where students were allowed to play the role of high school teachers.

Epidemiology and control of child toxocariasis in the western Brazilian Amazon - a population-based study.

Toxocara spp. infection and the seroconversion rate in the Amazon have been poorly investigated. This study analyzed individual and household-level risk factors for the presence of IgG antibodies to Toxocara spp.

Nutritional status of children under 5 years of age in the Brazilian Western Amazon before and after the Interoceanic highway paving: a population-based study.

Background: The aim of this study was to analyse the prevalence of undernutrition, overweight and associated factors, before and after the implementation of the Interoceanic Highway.

Methods: A population-based cross-sectional study on children under 5 years of age was conducted in the municipality of Assis Brasil, AC, Brazil, in 2003 and 2010. Prevalence of undernutrition was observed by using height-for-age Z-scores (HAZ) and adopting a cut-off point equal to or lower than a -2 Z-score.