Coping Action Oriented to Early Stimulation of Children with Congenital Zika Virus Infection in Rio de Janeiro State

Abstract

New health care demands directed at children with chronic conditions have been demanded mainly after the Zika virus epidemic. Given this, the Brazilian states have produced plans to cope with this congenital infection. In the state of Rio de Janeiro, the elaborated plan had as one of its actions a training proposal for physiotherapists, speech therapists and occupational therapists, focusing on early stimulation and focused on the health care network, especially primary care and specialized rehabilitation centers. Thus the purpose of this article is to describe the impact of a response strategy to Zika virus congenital infection, based on the multi-professional training proposal in earlier stimulation in the public health attention network of Rio de Janeiro State. Descriptive study, observational from the earlier stimulation training course to the public health attention network of Rio de Janeiro State as a coping action to the health care of children with Zika virus congenital infection. At the time of writing, partial results are available after 11 classes were performed. Based on the analysis of the evaluation form of the 11 courses taught by professionals of a referral hospital in Rio de Janeiro and student form, using the Excel program, 299 health network professionals were qualified, from 56 different municipalities of RJ, mostly females (n = 259; 86.82%). 175 physiotherapists (59%), 88 speech therapists (29%), 32 occupational therapists (11%) and 4 academics or other professional backgrounds (1%). The articulation between the different levels of public assistance, specifically: primary, secondary and tertiary, in this context assumes a fundamental action for good practices being undertaken considering the population’s health demands. Especially in relation to childhood chronic disease conditions, this action permited the building of lines of care that meet the population’s health demands so that in any of a child’s entry points on the assistance network, either prevention or treatment of the aggravated cases, there is integration of the actions and a better resolving response. It could be also identified that the strategy covered both the primary health attention team and the specialized rehabilitation team equally, composing one more important dialogue point to build an articulated and integrated assistance network.