The performance of the Tuberculosis Control Program in priority municipalities in the State of Paraíba, Brazil

Abstract

Tuberculosis has been a major public health problem over the 20th century and is still persistent on the 21st century. This study’s goal was to investigate the cure, abandoning and death results in high-priority municipalities from the state of Paraíba – Brazil, which are considered as high-priority by the Health Office National Program for Tuberculosis Control (PNCT-MS). As a quantitative transversal study, new and old tuberculosis cases from six municipalities were part of the analysis. The study pointed out that pulmonary tuberculosis comprehended 50.30%, the prevalence presented little variation, with average rates of 70.05% for cure, 8.51% for abandon and 0.84% for death. The 45-54 age group registered the highest number of cases. It can be concluded that the goals, proposed by the PNCT-MS regarding the cases closure, were not achieved by the cities and that leads to a maintenance of a high prevalence rate for the disease.