Levantamento rápido de índices para Aedes aegypti (LIRAa): Identificação de áreas de risco e mensuração de impactos de intervenções educativas

Abstract

The National Dengue Control Program (PNCD) has defined as one of its main strategic axes the engagement of the population through educational interventions. These actions should be promoted by health professionals, involving public and private educational institutions, especially with a view to eliminating or avoiding mosquito breeding sites and disseminating information on signs and symptoms of disease. However, scientific studies aiming to evaluate the impact of these actions are still scarce. This ecological study aimed to evaluate the use of the Aedes Aegypti Rapid Index Survey (LIRAa) to identify risk areas and measure impacts of educational interventions to prevent arboviruses. In addition to descriptive analysis, the Spearmam correlation test; the global and local Moran indices, and Geary's C-statistics were used to measure the effects of spatial dependencies between neighborhoods. The results showed that there is no correlation between proportion of high school students and the index of larval infestation. However, there was a positive correlation between the dependency ratio and the April 2018 LIRAa (p <0.01) and the January 2019 LIRAa (p <0.01), showing that the locations with the highest proportion of elderly and children, usually with the poorest population is also where mosquitoes proliferated the most; as well as where there are more vacant properties. Positive spatial dependence was demonstrated among the districts of the city of Campina Grande, which, during the entire study period, attributed a significant value of 0.1% to the Moran index. The methodology used in this work allowed the identification of hotpots or neighborhoods that should be considered a priority for preventive actions of Entomological Surveillance services; although it was not verified the contribution of high school students to reduce the mosquito’s infestation. This autocorrelation analysis is an innovative strategy capable of providing detailed information to relevant public health authorities, which will allow a more efficient allocation of resources, especially for mosquito prevention actions.