[Community participation in dengue control: an analysis of the sensitivity of municipal health plans in the State of São Paulo, Brazil].

Community participation in activities to combat the Aedes aegypti mosquito has been identified as one of the key thrusts in dengue control programs. This study aimed to verify the extent to which local health plans include community participation in dengue control activities in municipalities in the State of São Paulo, Brazil. The municipal health plans were analyzed used a reading script covering their main sections: (i) introduction and analysis of the health situations, (ii) objectives and targets, and (iii) proposed interventions. A sensitivity index was constructed on the basis of affirmative answers. Only one of the 16 health plans showed medium sensitivity to community participation in dengue control, two had a low index, twelve showed a very low index, and one had a zero sensitivity index. The study indicated that community participation fails to occupy a privileged position in municipal health policy for dengue control.