Performance of the Food and Nutrition Surveillance System in Sergipe over the last ten years and the assessment of the actors involved on its relevance

Abstract

For the Food and Nutrition Surveillance System to function effectively, significant population monitoring coverage is necessary. Therefore, it is important that health professionals and managers who work with this action have a positive perspective on its importance and its results. This study sought to evaluate the time series of coverage of the Food and Nutrition Surveillance System of Sergipe over the last 10 (ten) years, associating it with selected variables (demographic, socioeconomic and health), in addition to investigating its correlation with the assessment of relevance of the actors involved in the system. This is an analytical study with ecological data, associated with a transversal stage. For the analysis of time series, Prais-Winsten regression was used and the association between variables was calculated with Pearson's chi-square test and Fisher's exact test. 104 actors (professionals and managers) who worked with Food and Nutrition Surveillance in Sergipe participated in the cross-sectional research. There was a significant correlation between system coverage, both with the lack of technical and financial support, and with the lack of support from management bodies (state and municipal departments, and the Ministry of Health). The majority of municipalities showed a stable coverage trend (61.3%), with 36% showing a growing trend and only 2.7% showing decreasing coverage. Despite the positive assessment from professionals and managers, Sergipe still has low system coverage, which can be justified by the lack of technical and financial support from higher management levels.