Methodologies in the elaboration of health situational analysis in Latin America and the Caribbean

Abstract

Introduction: Health situation analyzes (ASIS) allow describing and explaining the health/disease profiles of a population and the conditions in which people live and work. However, challenges persist in terms of comprehensiveness in its different phases of implementation. Objective: to describe the methods used in the different stages of the design of the ASIS in Latin America. Methods: content analysis of different official ASIS and guides for its elaboration of the Latin American countries available on the web. Results: community participation was identified in 63% of the guides analyzed. The main quantitative sources of information on social determinants were secondary government sources (96%), followed by local primary sources (36%). the main sources of information on health conditions were institutional secondary sources (100%), followed by local primary sources (57%). The analysis beyond the descriptive (in statistical terms) was identified in 29% of the cases. On the other hand, the qualitative sources were used in 54% of the guides, gaining great importance in small areas and with difficult access. Within the reviewed guidelines, it was found that 15 countries (62%) incorporate prioritization and 37.5% use different alternatives to communicate the results. Conclusion: it is necessary that new research be carried out at the Latin American level to open the debate on the renewal of the PAHO Guide taking into account the main experiences, advances and setbacks in the construction of ASIS in Latin America.