Municipal Health Research Articles

Repasses financeiros para o enfrentamento da COVID-19 na perspectiva de gestores municipais do estado de São Paulo, Brasil

Abstract The study examined municipal managers’ perceptions of extraordinary funding and its use to address COVID-19. In this multiple-case, quantitative and qualitative study, using embedded mixed methods, semi-structured interviews were conducted in six case-municipalities in São Paulo state. Secondary data for 2020 to 2022, drawn from information systems, were analysed. The municipalities differed by population, health expenditures and access to federal funding, making it possible to observe different financial management strategies and resource allocation. In addition to the extraordinary funding, considerable budget transfers were found to have been made by Parliamentary Amendments during the study period. In a context where the national Unified Health System is underfunded, extraordinary funding and budget transfers by Parliamentary Amendments often enabled managers to organise municipal health systems to meet their understanding of health needs and possible responses to those needs. Funding to address COVID-19 was allocated mainly to medium- and high-complexity services and to engaging private companies.

A Síndrome Respiratória Aguda Grave na pessoa idosa no contexto da pandemia da covid-19 e seus fatores associados

Abstract Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) is one of the most worrying respiratory diseases, characterized by a flu-like condition associated with tachypnea or hypoxemia, with saturation below 95% in ambient air. In the context of the new coronavirus (SARSCoV- 2) pandemic, exponential growth in cases was observed, with the elderly being the most affected population group. This study aimed to describe SARS cases, as well as socio-demographic and health-associated factors in the elderly population of a city in the north of Rio Grande do Sul state, Brazil. This is an epidemiological study carried out by Influenza Epidemiological Surveillance Information System. The information was made available by the Municipal Health Department of the Passo Fundo between January 1st and December 31st, 2020. In the descriptive analysis, the distribution of absolute (n) and relative (%) frequencies of the variables of interest was performed. Crude and adjusted odds ratios were estimated using Logistic Regression. A total of 1,268 SARS notifications were observed in the elderly, 72% of which were caused by covid-19. The lethality was high (40.9%), mainly among men and those with low education, with the presence of at least one risk factor, especially chronic kidney disease. It is expected that the associations highlighted in this study can help to develop health policies aimed at the health of the elderly, especially by strengthening actions in primary health care.

Covid-19: Learning Updates

Covid-19 had been identified as an acute respiratory disease and many other systemic illnesses, causing unusual morbidity and death, particularly in older people and other people with co-morbidities. The disease is caused by an extremely infectious, super rapidly spreading and super-promptly mutating novel coronavirus, now known as the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2 virus). Covid-19 became a pandemic in 2020 and 2021. Though its pandemic nature is now declining, it is still in existence in many parts of the world, causing substantial mortality and morbidity. The Wuhan Municipal Health Commission of Hubei province, officially notified it first on December 31, 2019, though the first date of symptom onset of a cavid-19 case was first recorded on December 8, 2019 on basis of the patient’s recall during the investigation in the Wuhan city of central China. China publicly had circulated the genetic make-up of the causative virus on January 12, 2020. From the 1st January, 2020 onwards, the WHO (World Health Organization) had worked on it several times at several levels till March 11, 2020, When WHO deeply notified its alarming spread and severity, characterizing it as a pandemic. It had created a severe panic all over the world, interfering with life, health, economy, trade, commerce, livelihood and living standard of people. This Covid-19 had taught us a myriad of lessons how to tackle and handle catastrophic massive disasters in emergent situations, probing into our limitations and requirements and emphasizing on local, regional. national and international awareness, cooperation and coordination. KYAMC Journal Vol. 13, No. 03, October 2022: 170-176

The Role Of The Diabetes Specialist Team In The Modern Management Of Diabetes Mellitus: A Call For Its Implementation In Ghana

Many chronic illnesses require patient-centred care where behavioural change aimed at dealing and coping with the socio-psychological as well as the physical impact of the disease is emphasized.
 Diabetes presents such a challenge especially in the developing world where both human and material resources are limited in dealing with this complex disease. Most centres in Ghana and Africa in general, rely on overburdened practitioners who have responsibilities to other acute and chronic illnesses in addition to diabetes care.
 The Diabetes Specialist Team (DST) has become a tool in overcoming these complexities to improve care and outcomes. They work in a team with specialised and sometimes overlapping skills. Core members include Consultant physician diabetologists, specialist diabetes nurses, podiatrists, dieticians and clinical psychologists.
 The positive impact of DST is noticed in the aspects of diabetes preventive services, early diagnosis, patient education, medication use, risk factor and complication identification and management, together with in-patient care and management of special groups.
 Recognising that the needs of persons living with diabetes are under served, coupled with the fact that developing countries are expected to experience the greatest burden in terms of numbers and complications of diabetes, more resources are needed to reverse these expected grim statistics. Efforts should be made to develop and deploy DST as much as possible to provide specialised and dedicated services in the routine management of diabetes at least at the district or municipal health level. Resources are needed to maintain and snowball the impact of this approach.

Impacts of the medical arms race on medical expenses: a public hospital-based study in Shenzhen, China, during 2009–2013

BackgroundHas the medical arms race (MAR) increased healthcare expenditures? Existing literature has yet to draw a consistent conclusion. Hence, this study aims to reexamine the relationship between the MAR and medical expenses by the data from public hospitals in Shenzhen, China, during the period of 2009 to 2013.MethodsThis study’s data were collected through panel datasets spanning 2009 to 2013 from the Shenzhen Statistical Yearbook, Shenzhen Health Statistical Yearbook, and annual reports from the Shenzhen Municipal Health Commission. The Herfindahl–Hirschman index and hierarchical linear modeling were combined for empirical analysis.ResultsThe MAR’s impact on medical examination fees differed during the inpatient and outpatient stages. Further analysis verified that the MAR had the most significant impact on outpatient examination fees. Due to the characteristics of China’s medical system, government regulations in the healthcare market may consequently accelerate the MAR among public hospitals. Strict government regulations on the medical system have also promoted increased medical examination costs to some extent. Once medical service prices are under strict administrative control, only drug and medical examination fees are the primary forms of extra income for hospitals. After the proportion of drug fees is further regulated, medical examinations will then become another staple method to generate extra revenue. These have distorted Chinese public hospitals’ medical fees, which completely differ from those in other countries.ConclusionThe government should confirm that they have allocated sufficient financial investments for public hospitals; otherwise, the competition among hospitals will transfer the burden to patients, and especially to those who can afford to pay for care. A core task for public hospitals involves providing safer, less expensive, and more reliable medical services.

Knowledge, attitudes and practice of breast control in primary care centers: impact on breast cancer epidemiology in San Rafael, Mendoza

Introduction: Breast cancer is the most frequent cancer in women globally and the leading cause of cancer death among women in developing countries. Objectives: The main objectives of this study were: to evaluate the clinico-pathological characteristics of patients with breast cancer at the San Rafael Regional Public Hospital, Mendoza; and, additionally, to determine the knowledge of an independent cohort of women regarding breast controls in the peripheral Health Centers of this city. Material and method: For the epidemiologic analysis of breast cancer in San Rafael, the Mendoza Provincial Tumor Registry was consulted. To study the clinico-pathological variables, a decryptive, cross-sectional type study was conducted on 51 consecutive patients with breast cancer diagnosis, during the period January 2014 to July 2016, in the Gynecology Service of the Hospital “ . Teodoro Schestakow” of the City of San Rafael, Mendoza. To determine the level of knowledge regarding breast-river control, surveys were conducted in peripheral health centers in the neighborhoods of Pueblo Diamante, Constitution, El Molino, Villa Laredo and El Sosneado, San Rafael, with prior authorization from the Directorate of the Municipal Health Area. Results: Breast cancer in women corresponded to 33.9% of all cancers in the period 2008-2012, according to the Provincial Tumor Registry. The mean age at the time of diagnosis was 53 years (range: 24-81 years). Advanced stages (III and IV) were diagnosed in 41.2% of patients. The 96.1% of patients presented breast symptomatology at the time of diagnosis, being breast tumor (on self-examination) the most frequent. Only 22% of women surveyed perform annual breast control; and only 7% of patients refer to having a breast examination performed at the medical consultation. Conclusion: Breast cancer diagnosis in San Rafael is performed mainly in symptomatic patients, which reflects deficiencies in early diagnosis, breast controls and information on the female population. This represents an opportunity to conduct population-targeted prevention campaigns, as well as education of health effectors from peripheral centres.

Cross-sectional study on factors associated with flossing in Brazilian young children.

This cross-sectional study aimed at evaluating the factors associated with flossing by caregivers in Brazilian young children. Its sample consisted of 305 children aged 1-3 and their mothers from the Brazilian city of Diamantina. They were selected through the Municipal Health Department from a list of registered children who had recently used the public health services. Data collection was done by means of the mothers answering a questionnaire which addressed economic and socio-demographic factors and also the mother and child characteristics and habits. In addition, an oral clinical examination was performed in order to assess Baume arch type and caries occurrence. Descriptive statistical analysis, chi-square test and Poisson regression were performed. It was found that the sample presented a prevalent flossing habit in 20.3% of the subjects. The flossing habit in the children was associated with the mothers' own habit of flossing daily (PR 2.32; 95% CI 1.12-4.82) and with the frequent children's tooth brushing by the mother (PR 2.85; 95% CI 1.05-7.76). A higher prevalence of flossing by caregivers in young children is associated with the mothers' own habit of flossing daily and with the frequent children's tooth brushing by the mother.

Working environment, work engagement and mental health problems among occupational and physical therapists

Background Working environment, work engagement and health among occupational and physical therapists in Norway have rarely been investigated. Objectives (1) To compare the psychosocial working environment, work engagement and mental health problems of occupational therapists with those of physical therapists; (2) to compare the same measures among occupational therapists working in the specialist and municipal healthcare services, respectively; and (3) to identify job demands and resources that influence the work engagement and mental health problems of occupational therapists. Material and methods The Survey for Health Promoting Workplaces was used to collect data from 170 occupational therapists and 273 physical therapists (response rate =35%) working in specialist and municipal health care in Norway. Student’s t-test, Pearson correlations and multiple regression analysis were used. Results Occupational therapists experienced higher job demands and poorer health than physical therapists. Occupational therapists in the municipal healthcare services were slightly more satisfied with their job resources than colleagues in specialist healthcare services. Meaningful work and the opportunity to use one’s strengths and potential contributed the most to high work engagement. Low work engagement was the most important contributor to poor mental health. Conclusion and significance The mental health of occupational therapists seems to be closely related to the opportunity to perform high-quality therapy. It is important that work is organised so that occupational therapists have meaningful work tasks and opportunity to use their strengths and potential.

Home health care professionals’ experiences of working in integrated teams during the COVID-19 pandemic: a qualitative thematic study

BackgroundSince COVID-19 emerged, over 514 million COVID-19 cases and 6 million COVID-19-related deaths have been reported worldwide. Older persons receiving home health care often have co-morbidities that require advanced medical care, and are at risk of becoming severely ill or dying from COVID-19. In Sweden, over 10,000 COVID-19-related deaths have been reported among persons receiving municipal home health and social care. Home health care professionals have been working with the patients most at risk if infected. Most research has focused on the experiences of professionals in hospitals and assistant nurses in a home care setting. It is therefore valuable to study the experiences of the registered nurses and physicians working in home health care during the COVID-19 pandemic to learn lessons to inform future work.MethodA thematic qualitative study design using a semi-structured interview guide.ResultsThe health care professionals experienced being forced into changed ways of working, which disrupted building and maintaining relationships with other health care professionals, and interrupted home health care. The health care professionals described being forced into digital and phone communication instead of in-person meetings, which negatively influenced the quality of care. The COVID-19 pandemic brought worry about illness for the health care professionals, including worrying about infecting patients, co-workers, and themselves, as well as worry about upholding the provision of health care because of increasing sick leave. The health care professionals felt powerless in the face of their patients’ declining health. They also faced worry and guilt from the patients’ next of kin.ConclusionHome health care professionals have faced the COVID-19 pandemic while working across organizational borders, caring for older patients who have been isolated during the pandemic and trying to prevent declining health and feelings of isolation. Due to the forced use of digital and phone communication instead of in-person visits, the home health care professionals experienced a reduction in the patients’ quality of care and difficulty maintaining good communication between the professions.

Addressing Financial Barriers to Health Care Among People Who are Low-Income and Insured in New York City, 2014–2017

While health care-associated financial burdens among uninsured individuals are well described, few studies have systematically characterized the array of financial and logistical complications faced by insured individuals with low household incomes. In this mixed methods paper, we conducted 6 focus groups with a total of 55 residents and analyzed programmatic administrative records to characterize the specific financial and logistic barriers faced by residents living in public housing in East and Central Harlem, New York City (NYC). Participants included individuals who enrolled in a municipal community health worker (CHW) program designed to close equity gaps in health and social outcomes. Dedicated health advocates (HAs) were explicitly paired with CHWs to provide health insurance and health care navigational assistance. We describe the needs of 150 residents with reported financial barriers to care, as well as the navigational and advocacy strategies taken by HAs to address them. Finally, we outline state-level policy recommendations to help ameliorate the problems experienced by participants. The model of paired CHW–HAs may be helpful in addressing financial barriers for insured populations with low household income and reducing health disparities in other communities.

Perspectives on Coordinating Health Services for Individuals with Serious Mental Illness - A Qualitative Study.

Individuals with serious mental illness (SMI) might require coordinated health services to meet their healthcare needs. The overall aim of this study was to describe the perspectives of professionals (registered nurses, medical doctors, social educators, and social workers) on care coordination and measures to ensure proper and coordinated follow-up of the healthcare needs of individuals with SMI. More specifically, we investigated which measures are taken by employees in municipal health and care services to prevent the deterioration of health conditions and which measures are taken in cases where deterioration occurs despite preventive efforts. The study comprised individual qualitative interviews with professionals employed in municipal health and care services in two Norwegian municipalities. The interview material was analyzed using systematic text condensation. Three categories and seven subcategories were created in the data analysis: 1) Maintain a stable and meaningful home life, including ensuring proper housing and access to services and assistance in receiving healthcare; 2) Measures to prevent deterioration of the health condition, including close monitoring of symptoms, emergency psychiatric care plans and emergency room calls and visits; and 3) Inpatient care to stabilize acute and severe symptoms, including municipal inpatient care, returning home after inpatient care and a need for shared responsibility for treatment and care. Professionals employed in municipal health and care services coordinate health services to ensure proper and coordinated follow-up of the healthcare needs of individuals with SMI by ensuring housing services and access to the required healthcare. Measures taken when deterioration occurs include monitoring symptoms, use of emergency psychiatric care plans, emergency room contacts, or inpatient care.

Collective Competence as an Enabler for Service Integration in Health and Social Care Services.

Fragmentation in health and social care services can result in poor access to services, lack of continuity and inadequate provision for needs. A focus on integration of services are thus suggested to prevent negative consequences of fragmentation for service recipients. There are, however, few studies that explore the competence needed for integration of services in municipal health and social care organizations. This study explores which types of competence stakeholders require and how collective competence can promote service integration. This is a single-case study, and the data consist of focus group interviews and individual interviews with service recipients, family caregivers, professionals and managers. The data were analysed both inductively and deductively. The analysis resulted in four main themes: 1) Knowledge about individual life situations and organization and system, 2) investigation competence, 3) person-centred collaboration competence and 4) facilitating competence. The themes form the basis for a collective competence framework that can promote service integration. As service integration involves a high degree of interlinked activities between professionals and organizational units, a collective approach to the concept of competence is presumably applicable. When service integration competence is approached as a collective attribute of a network within and between organizational units, the organization can facilitate this competence by encouraging an active exchange of knowledge between professionals. We also argue that service integration competence increases connectivity and interdependency between professionals and organizational units, and includes service recipients and family caregivers as legitimate extra-professional parts of the collaborative network.

Building capacity for the use of systems science to support local government public health planning: a case study of the VicHealth Local Government Partnership in Victoria, Australia

ObjectiveTo present an approach to build capacity for the use of systems science to support local communities in municipal public health and well-being planning.DesignCase study.SettingLocal government authorities participating in the...

Population-based analysis of the epidemiology of the surgical correction of hyperhidrosis in 1,216 patients over 11 years: a cross-sectional study.

Endoscopic thoracic sympathectomy is the definitive surgical treatment for hyperhidrosis and a nationwide study has suggested that cultural and socioeconomic factors play a role in the numbers of operations performed. Thus, there is a need to evaluate local data in order to understand the local epidemiology and trends in hyperhidrosis treatment. To study the epidemiology of sympathectomy for treating hyperhidrosis in São Paulo, the largest city in Brazil. Population-based retrospective cross-sectional study. Data on sympathectomies for treating hyperhidrosis between 2008 and 2018 were assessed from the database of the Municipal Health Department of São Paulo, Brazil. 65.29% of the patients were female, 66.2% were aged between 20 and 39 years and 37.59% had registered with addresses outside São Paulo. 1,216 procedures were performed in the city of São Paulo from 2008 to 2018, and 78.45% of them were in only two public hospitals. The number of procedures significantly declined over the years (P = 0.001). 71.63% of the procedures were associated with 2-3 days of hospital stay, only 78 intensive care unit days were billed and we did not observe any intra-hospital death. The profile of patients operated on in São Paulo (young women) is similar to that described in other populations. Sympathectomy is a very safe procedure, with no mortality in our series. There was a decreasing trend in the number of surgeries over the years.

Mapping Dengue in children in a Colombian Caribbean Region: clinical and epidemiological analysis of more than 3500 cases.

Dengue continues to be a global public health problem due to its impact in terms of morbidity and mortality and economic burden on health systems, with severe effects mainly on children. Among the objectives of sustainable development is the control of infectious diseases; therefore, it is necessary to evaluate the impact of existing programs on the prevention and management of infectious diseases. The aim of this study was to analyze the epidemiological, clinical, and geospatial behavior of dengue in children in a region of the Colombian Caribbean. A retrospective cross-sectional study was carried out. The data provided by the Municipal Health Secretariat were taken and the cases of dengue and severe dengue in children aged 0 to 17 years reported in Sincelejo, Colombia, were extracted. The sociodemographic and clinical characteristics presented were analyzed and descriptive statistics were performed with tables and graphs of frequency and accumulated percentages. To locate the areas with the highest incidence of cases during the year, a geospatial location of the cases was carried out with the QGIS v.3.8 program. In 2019, there were 3611 cases of dengue fever in children aged 0 to 17 years. There were 1394 (38.6%) cases with warning signs, and 41 (1.1%) cases of severe dengue fever. Cases of severe dengue fever occurred more frequently in women. The incidence rate found was 3927 and 45.1 cases per 100,000 population, for dengue and severe dengue in children, respectively. The age ranges with the highest number of cases were children aged 4 to 9 years with 1778 cases. The clinical presentation was varied, with the most frequent symptoms, in all groups, being fever in 100% of cases, myalgias ≥71%, and arthralgias ≥64%. Only 9% (n=315) of the cases, corresponded to cases in the rural area. A very high incidence of cases of dengue and dengue with alarm signs in children was evidenced in the Colombian Caribbean region, mainly in the urban area, despite the existence of public health programs and strategies to control the burden of diseases transmitted by arbovirus vectors.

Determinants of exercise adherence and maintenance for cancer survivors: Implementation of a community-based group exercise program. A qualitative feasibility study.

Despite verified knowledge that physical exercise plays an important part in recovery after cancer treatment, multiple studies have shown that maintaining a physically active lifestyle after cancer is challenging. There is a need for qualitative studies to increase understanding into patient experiences and perspectives, and facilitate the design of more sustainable exercise program. This qualitative descriptive feasibility study explores experiences from the implementation of a novel four-month community-based group exercise program for cancer survivors within municipality health service after completion of rehabilitation in the specialist health care service. Fourteen cancer survivors participated in focus group interviews after completing Rehabilitation: Physical activity and Coping - feasibility study. Data were analyzed using the systematic text condensation method. We identified a main category, Determinants for exercise adherence and maintenance and four subcategories: peer-support, environment, structure and knowledge. A social and supportive exercise environment promotes exercise adherence and maintenance among cancer survivors. This knowledge can be useful for further efforts to implement high quality community-based group exercise programs for cancer survivors. This study adds knowledge of survivors' experience of a novel community-based group exercise program in clinical practice and can promote the implementation of sustainable community-based exercise programs for cancer survivors.

LOCAL GOVERNMENT ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH SERVICES: FUNDAMENTALS FOR EFFECTIVE MUNICIPAL SERVICE DELIVERY AND PREVENTIVE HEALTH OUTCOMES

One of the main reasons proposed for the widespread community protests in South Africa has been ineffective service delivery by local municipalities. The growing frustration of citizens has led to violent unrest, damage to infrastructure, service payment boycotts and litigation. Official reports have highlighted weaknesses including flawed governance, financial management, operational processes, and inter-governmental relations. This also applies to environmental health services (EHS) which is an intrinsic part of municipal health services, despite being the first line of defence in protecting the population against environmental risks. This grounded theory study, which forms part of a PhD dissertation, applied an integrative literature review to identify the fundamentals of effective environmental health service delivery. Four factors emerged: mandate cognisance; mandate execution; leadership support; and community satisfaction. Using the Schutte-dendrogram technique, the prerequisites for effective preventive environmental health services were explored and a conceptual model with sub-components was constructed. Viewing the model through a systems theory lens underscored the relational aspect of effectiveness. Rather than each factor independently contributing to effective service delivery, the interconnections and reliance on collaboration, communication, and contingencies among them lead to success. A strength or inadequacy in one of the four fundamental domains affects all the others, allowing progress or deterioration to permeate the entire system to enhance or weaken goal achievement. Improving the effectiveness of local government basic services thus requires a holistic view of the organisational system and the relational nature thereof.

Construction of the Municipal Health Plan from the district perspective: experiences and challenges in the pandemic context

RESUMO Relato de experiência sobre o processo de construção do Plano Municipal de Saúde sob perspectiva distrital de residentes em Planejamento e Gestão. O processo de elaboração do Plano Municipal de Saúde de Salvador (2022-2025), com a mobilização dos Distritos Sanitários (DS) para elaboração da Análise de Situação de Saúde (Asis), teve início em abril/2021. Três residentes em Planejamento e Gestão, sob supervisão docente e acompanhamento da preceptoria, vivenciaram todo o processo, uma vez que estavam envolvidas no contexto de um dos doze DS do município. Por meio do levantamento e do acesso aos sistemas de informação em saúde e de contatos com gestores e técnicos, foi elaborada a Asis do DS do período de 2010-2020. Reuniões para compartilhamento e mobilização da situação distrital foram realizadas com diversos atores, anteriormente à oficina distrital, para priorização dos problemas de saúde que tiveram como produto final o relatório distrital. O processo de elaboração da Asis distrital possibilitou a compreensão da importância do planejamento em saúde e sua aplicabilidade, contribuindo para o processo formativo das residentes, no desenvolvimento de competências e habilidades, considerando a realidade sanitária e epidemiológica.

Texting in a crisis-using SMS for information and emotional support during COVID-19: A mixed methods research study.

In the era of new media, short message service (SMS) is no longer seen as advantageous and it is no longer used very much by the Chinese public. However, as a traditional media, local governments managing public health crises used SMS as a way of meeting the public's need for emotional support during the COVID-19 pandemic. Our study examined 108 SMS texts pushed to phones in Chongqing between January and December 2020, and carried out in-depth interviews with ten interviewees. This mixed research method of descriptive and grounded theory analysis was designed to investigate how SMS was used to communicate prevention guidelines and give emotional support during COVID-19. The results show that Chongqing Municipal Health and Health Commission gained the public's attention with SMS messages consisting of neutral, objective advice, and guidance to reduce people's anxiety and panic. However, with the stabilization of COVID-19, SMS has once again been discarded by users, including the public health sector. The study found that the emotional support offered by SMS was limited to the elderly, a subset of the population considered to be weak users of the internet. SMS has been replaced by other technologies, but along with other media, such as official media and social media, it has shaped the media communication environment and served as an emotional support channel for the public. Undoubtedly,the use of SMS during COVID-19 presents a research opportunity for exploring its capacity for prevention, control and emotional support.

Feasibility and outcomes of using a novel artificial intelligence enhanced breast thermography technique, Thermalytix, in screening for breast abnormalities at primary health centres at the community level in South India

Background: Women from low-income families have poorer health-seeking behavior, particularly when it comes to cancer screening. A community health initiative was launched by Niramai in collaboration with city officials in Bangalore as a pilot to increase awareness and make breast health screening available to all. This study describes a community-level breast screening for underprivileged women in south India adopting Thermalytix, a thermography-based artificial intelligence device.Methods: This observational study was conducted at 25 municipal primary health centers where women over 18 years of age were enrolled. The project started on 14 November 2017 and is ongoing. Procedures include a brief meeting on camp procedures, identification of eligible candidates, health education, and Thermalytix testing.Results: A total of 6935 women underwent artificial intelligence (AI)-powered Thermalytix screening in 25 Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) hospitals. The median age was 42 (range 18-86) of the 5248 women enrolled as per inclusion. Among the 5248 women recruited, 62 (1.18%) women were detected with some abnormalities in Thermalytix. Out of the women who underwent follow-up investigations (11/62), eight were positive on radiological evaluation, further histopathological evaluation confirmed one ductal carcinoma in situ.Conclusions: Community participation with the engagement of the local government health officials enabled us to develop screening strategies for underprivileged women. Thermalytix could be a potential screening tool in resource-constrained settings and the portable equipment enabled easy movement across different primary health centers (PHCs). Since it is a privacy-aware test, there was less refusal to participate in the test.