The food environment can influence opportunities and barriers to food access. This study aimed to investigate whether access to healthy foods varies according to store types and the socioeconomic status of the users of the public health promotion program in Brazil, known as the Health Academy Program. A total of 18 Health Academy Program centers were selected via simple conglomerate sampling. Health Academy Program users living up to 1 km from the food stores were evaluated (n = 2831). Their socioeconomic status was investigated via face-to-face interviews. The food stores were audited through direct observation. Variables included the community nutrition environment (type and location) and consumer nutrition environment (healthy food store index, involving variables such as availability, variety, and advertising of healthy and unhealthy products). Multiple linear regression analysis was performed to examine the association between access to healthy foods, socioeconomic status, and food store type. A total of 336 stores were investigated. The majority were specialty fruit and vegetable markets/stores or open-air food markets. Access to healthy food was only associated with the food store type. An increase of 1% in the availability of specialized fruits and vegetable markets or open-air food markets and supermarket raised healthy food store index values by 0.12 and 0.07, respectively. Public food supply policies aimed at improving the diet quality of the population and reducing inequality in access should prioritize the implementation of stores of better quality, such as specialty fruit and vegetable markets and open-air food markets.

Introduction: Asthma is a multifactorial disease and a serious public health problem. Environmental factors and poverty are the main determinants of this disease. Objective: To describe the spatial and temporal distribution of asthma-related hospitalizations and identify the areas with the highest prevalence of and vulnerability to severe asthma in a major Brazilian city. Methods: An ecological study of hospitalizations for asthma from 2002 to 2012, in children and adolescents under 15 years of age, living in Belo Horizonte, Southeast Brazil. All events were geocoded by residence address using Hospital Information System data. The socioeconomic vulnerability of residence address was ranked using the Health Vulnerability Index. Raster surfaces were generated and time-series plots were constructed to determine spatial and time trends in the frequency of asthma-related hospitalizations, respectively. Results: Asthma-related hospitalization rates were highest in children aged 0–4 years and in boys. There was a decreasing trend in the number of asthma-related hospitalizations across the study period. Approximately 48% of all hospitalizations were children living in health vulnerable areas. Seasonal trends showed a hospitalization peak in March, April, and May, coinciding with the post-rainy period. Conclusion: Our findings suggest that social and environmental factors may be determinants of disparities in severe asthma.

Resumo O risco de hospitalização por asma influenciado pelo disparo das condições climáticas é pouco explorado em Minas Gerais. Os objetivos deste artigo são: a) avaliar a influência dos fatores climáticos nas hospitalizações por asma e por infecções virais do trato respiratório inferior (IVTRI), de 2002 a 2012, em crianças e adolescentes residentes em Belo Horizonte (BH) e estimar períodos epidêmicos para as hospitalizações por asma; b) comparar o padrão sazonal local das hospitalizações por asma e IVTRI. Utilizando as hospitalizações por asma estratificadas e por bronquiolite de 0-4 anos, a partir das guias de Internação Hospitalar, modelos estatísticos de regressão foram aplicados para avaliar o relacionamento entre as variáveis. Para estimar períodos epidêmicos foi utilizado o modelo de séries temporais da classe ARIMA. Foi observado um incremento nas hospitalizações por asma com aumento da umidade relativa no período pós-chuvas, as hospitalizações por bronquiolite se associaram a baixos níveis de temperatura máxima e precipitação. Períodos mais chuvosos podem propiciar o aumento da umidade outdoor e indoor favorecendo proliferação fúngica. Já os períodos mais frios podem favorecer o aumento da disseminação de vírus.

This study aimed to explore the association between water, sanitation, and the prevalence of schistosomiasis mansoni in students aged 7 to 17 years from all 27 federative units in Brazil. It was a cross-sectional study conducted based on data on the prevalence of schistosomiasis mansoni referring to 197,567 students from 521 Brazilian municipalities, who participated in the National Survey on the Prevalence of Schistosomiasis Mansoni and Soil-transmitted Helminth Infections (2011-2015). Univariable and multivariable generalized linear models of the negative binomial type were adjusted using 25 and 5% significance levels, respectively, considering municipalities as the unit of analysis. While a protective association was found between access to filtered water in schools and schistosomiasis mansoni prevalence, sanitation in schools was indicated as a risk factor. The collection of wastewater through a network is not universal in Brazil, and even when present, it is not necessarily carried out by the treatment of collected effluents, thus often resulting in the direct discharge of raw sewage into water resources. Regarding septic tanks, only the presence of infrastructure alone does not guarantee its correct use by the population.

Background: Homicide rates in Brazil are among the highest worldwide. Although not exclusive to large Brazilian cities, homicides find their most important determinants in cities’ slums. In the last decade, an urban renewal process has been initiated in the city of Belo Horizonte, in Brazil. Named Vila Viva project, it includes structuring urban interventions such as urban renewal, social development actions and land regularization in the slums of the city. This study evaluates the project’s effect on homicide rates according to time and interventions. Methods: Homicide rates were analyzed comparing five slums with interventions (S1–S5) to five grouped non-intervened slums (S0), with similar socioeconomic characteristics from 2002 to 2012. Poisson regression model estimates the effect of time of observation and the effect of time of exposure (in years) to a completed intervention, besides the overall risk ratio (RR). Results: Using the time of observation in years, homicide rates decreased in the studied period and even more if considered cumulative time of exposure to a completed intervention for S1, S2, S3 and S4, but not for S5. Conclusions: Although the results of the effect of the interventions are not repeated in all slums, a downward trend in homicide rates has been found, which is connected to the interventions. New approaches could be necessary in order to verify the nexus between slum renewal projects and the reduction of homicide rates.