Accuracy of the equipment used and anthropometric measurements done by primary health care teams in the state of São Paulo

Abstract

One of the objectives of the Food and Nutrition Surveillance System (SISVAN) is to monitor the nutritional status of users of the primary health care facilities of the Unified Health care System (SUS). Therefore, it is important for anthropometric measurements to be accurate and generate reliable data. This project aims to assess the accuracy of the equipment used and the anthropometric measurements done by teams working at the primary health care facilities of the state of São Paulo by assessing their operational conditions and agreement between the data they collected and those collected by trained and calibrated individuals. The study will analyze the data collected during the second semester of 2011 and first semester of 2012 in 65 municipalities of the state of São Paulo, covering a total of 240 primary health care facilities, that is, 615 children aged less than 2 years and 615 individuals aged more than 2 years. The teams in the health care facilities will be instructed to collect anthropometric data in the usual way. Next, trained anthropometrists will collect the same data from the same user according to established techniques. The anthropometric procedures used by the health care teams will be observed and recorded, and equipment calibration will be checked. The data collected at the primary health care facilities will then be statistically analyzed, the results will be described, tabulated, and graphed, and an article will be written for publication. The study hopes to make information available to public policies on food and nutrition and train a grantee to perform research in this area. (AU)