Abstract
To describe the presence of speech-language therapists (SLT) in the primary health care (PHC) in Brazil and its association with socioeconomic inequalities. Cross-sectional study with 17,157 PHC services in all Brazilian states. Based on the NASF External Assessment Questionnaire sub-item "speech-language therapist", which was used to answer the question "What NASF professionals support your PHC service?", in addition to contextual data (regional population, number of registered SLP, speech therapy college courses, city HDI and Gini Index). From all the PHC services supported by NASF, 50.8% (8713/17,157) has SLPs as part of the team. Brazil's Southeast region has the higher prevalence of SLP at the team (57.4%; 5,575). South Region has the lower prevalence (28.9%; 625). The presence of SLP support is directly proportional to HDI stratum and Gini Index (average and high). There is an important limitation of public care to treat communication and swallowing disorders in Brazil.
Highlights
Primary Health Care (PHC) is considered a major organizational strategy at public health systems, and the World Health Organization (WHO) recommends the execution of unifying actions to promote universal health access and social care systems, consolidating an integrated approach at all healthcare levels[1]
With the goal to solve this important gap, this study aims to describe the presence of the speech-language therapist (SLP) in the support to PHC by family health teams in Brazil and its association with socioeconomic inequalities
For a population of 202,768,562 people, there are 39,943 family health teams and 3,898 NASF teams, and 17,157 PHC teams relying on NASF support, half of them (8,713-50.8%) with SLP work support
Summary
Primary Health Care (PHC) is considered a major organizational strategy at public health systems, and the World Health Organization (WHO) recommends the execution of unifying actions to promote universal health access and social care systems, consolidating an integrated approach at all healthcare levels[1]. PHC inserts people into the healthcare system independent of their demands It emphasizes healthcare along time, in addition to determinants of health by means of social and physical environments, where those people live and work, without focusing on diseases individually. Health optimization is a priority, as well as decrease of disparity between population subgroups, providing equal access to health services to all population groups[2]. In this context, the Brazilian national health system – Sistema Único de Saúde (SUS), through its universality principle, has the Family Health Strategy (FHS) as one of the forms of organization. The process, above all, considers the identification of cultural and community characteristics of the covered population[6]
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