Soil-transmitted helminth (STH) (A. lumbricoides, T. trichiura and hookworm) infections are a significant public health concern in Honduras. These infections are treatable using inexpensive anthelmintic medications, however long-term control and eradication will require large investments in public and private sanitation infrastructure. Importantly, both types of interventions are targeted towards high-risk populations and regions rather than individuals. The goal of this thesis is to contribute to improving the efficiency of soil-transmitted helminth control efforts in Honduras. In our first study, we use multiple regression analyses to identify determinants of STH infections and generate estimates of A. lumbricoides, T. trichiura and hookworm infection prevalence, as well as recommended deworming frequencies, for each of Honduras’ 298 municipalities. Our estimates suggest that prevalence of all three infections has declined over time, however 75% of municipalities still require annual or semi-annual deworming. In our second study, we quantify how the type of region used for measuring prevalence and allocating resources can impact the success and efficiency of public health programs. More specifically, we compare administrative regions to alternative zoning schemes at the same geographic scale. Our findings suggest that regions designed to be homogeneous with respect to prevalence can be more efficient than existing municipalities (at the same scale) for distributing resources. This research has implications on future control efforts. / Thesis / Master of Science (MSc)

This dissertation regards the research of the micro politics of work, at the "Regional Management School" (Colegiado de Gestão Regional), also known as COGERE. This work's main goal is to analyze the technologies used in the protocols of management and decision making by managers at COGERE 4th Health Region. This study aims to contribute to the knowledge of health management and its practice. The theoretic framework of this dissertation is based on the analysis of the Brazilian Health Reconstruction, the legislation of the "Single Health System" (Sistema Único de Saúde, also known as SUS), the health system work protocols and the association of the fields of care and management. This study is also based on Emerson Elias Merhy's and Michel Foucault's work. The methodology uses the qualitative approach, and the investigative approach is the case study, because we are dealing with the analysis of a SUS decision-making institution, which is the COGERE 4th Health Region, located in the south of Brazil. The subjects researched were the staff of this management school and the data was surveyed through interviews, observation and document analysis. The findings of this study allow us to say that the technologies used by decisionmaking managers at COGERE, are most likely "light-hard" and "hard" when bound to the standards, ordinances, rules, contracts, technical knowledge systematized and structured, over the "light" technologies, that were supposed to be predominant at this place, where the theoretical assumptions are relationships among people, co-management, dialogue, sharing and the collective construction of the management politic process and health political organizations, at the 4th Health Region, located in the south of Brazil. / A presente dissertação tem como objeto de pesquisa a micropolítica do trabalho no espaço do Colegiado de Gestão Regional COGERE. O Objetivo Geral deste estudo é analisar as tecnologias utilizadas nos processos de trabalho implementados no Colegiado de Gestão Regional, para tomada de decisão dos gestores integrantes do COGERE da 4ª Região Sanitária de Saúde. Este estudo pretende contribuir com o avanço do conhecimento no campo da gestão em saúde e sua aplicação, no caso singular dos colegiados regionais de gestão. O arcabouço teórico utilizado fundamenta-se na análise da Reforma Sanitária Brasileira, legislação do Sistema Único de Saúde, no processo de trabalho em saúde, associando o campo do cuidado com a gestão, em especial a partir das obras de Emerson Elias Merhy e Michel Foucault. A metodologia utilizada traz a abordagem qualitativa e a estratégia de investigação de Estudo de Caso, por tratar-se da análise de uma instância decisória do SUS que é o Colegiado de Gestão Regional da 4ª Região Sanitária do Rio Grande do Sul. Os sujeitos pesquisados foram os integrantes deste colegiado e as técnicas utilizadas para coleta de dados foram as entrevistas, a observação e análise documental. Os achados deste estudo permitem afirmar que as tecnologias utilizadas pelos gestores nos processos de tomada de decisão no espaço do COGERE são, predominantemente, de natureza leve-duras e duras vinculadas às normas, portarias, regras, contratos, conhecimento sistematizado e estruturado, em detrimento das tecnologias leves, as quais deveriam predominar nesse espaço, que tem, como pressuposto teórico, as relações entre os atores, a cogestão, o diálogo, o compartilhamento e a construção coletiva e solidária de processos políticos de gestão e organização de políticas de saúde para 4ª Região Sanitária do RS.