Evaluation of the performance of regionalization of health surveillance in six Brazilian Health Regions

This study aimed to assess the performance of health surveillance regionalization with different levels of development in Brazil. A cross-sectional quantitative approach was used with data collected through a structured questionnaire, prepared on the basis of three study dimensions (Policy, Structure, and Organization), applied to 31 key actors in health surveillance in the selected Health Regions and municipalities. The measure of central tendency was mean score, and synthetic indices were obtained for each dimension and attribute. Three cutoff points were assigned to assess performance: values less than or equal to 4.99 were considered unsatisfactory; from 5.00 to 6.99, intermediate; and greater than or equal to 7.00, satisfactory. The study found that regionalization performance in health surveillance was only satisfactory in one region, intermediate in four, and unsatisfactory in one. Among the three dimensions, Policy and Organization showed the best performance and Structure showed the worst. In conclusion, in general, the higher the level of socioeconomic development and services supply, the better the performance in regionalization of health surveillance. The evaluation portrays the complexity of contexts in different regions of Brazil, thus contributing to understanding the dynamics of health surveillance regionalization in Brazil.