Santa Casa encourages preventive diagnoses of hepatitis and transmissible infections
The program is aimed at the staff and users of the Hospital in Belém
The action this Tuesday (29), in the internal square of the Santa Casa do Pará Foundation, runs until 4 PM and is part of the "Yellow July" program launched by the State Department of Public Health (Sespa) at the beginning of this month of July.
The initiative highlights the importance of the campaign that intensifies the prevention and control of hepatitis, for the World Day Against Viral Hepatitis, which is always observed on July 28. This Tuesday, the event offered rapid testing (Hepatitis B, Hepatitis C, HIV, and Syphilis) for staff and general users of Santa Casa.
Belém resident, freelancer Luís Sérgio took the tests and praised the Santa Casa program. "It is essential for our health. It is a way to prevent diseases that can appear silently. And being here is important for our daily lives."
Catarina Souza, a housewife from the municipality of Salvaterra, Ilha do Marajó, took her son for a consultation at the pediatric outpatient clinic and took the opportunity to do the tests offered in the 'Yellow July' campaign.
"I did all the tests and now I am waiting for the results. It is important to do these preventive exams. This action here is really cool because in addition to the tests, there is guidance from competent professionals committed to our health," said Catarina Souza.
The campaign, promoted by Santa Casa, has the partnership of the Health Department of Pará (Sespa) and the support of the Integrated System of Basic and Professional Education of Pará (Siepa). On the 17th of this month, the action at Parque Shopping, in Bengui, conducted 1,068 rapid diagnostic tests for syphilis, HIV, and hepatitis B and C, and offered guidance, lectures, and distribution of condoms.
Tamires Tupinambá, a nurse who manages the Hospital Epidemiological Surveillance Center at Santa Casa, emphasizes that the main importance of this action lies in guidance and prevention. "We are in the month of combating viral hepatitis, and we strengthen the alert against viral hepatitis, so we take the opportunity to talk about other diseases like syphilis and HIV."
"We do rapid tests to strengthen the importance of disease prevention, along with the users and staff of Santa Casa. We work with hospital epidemiological surveillance, so we deal with hepatitis, which is a notifiable disease. That is why we are working on this prevention, precisely because we notify cases of hepatitis. Not only hepatitis, but syphilis, HIV, all are notifiable diseases," said the manager.
Viral hepatitis are infections that affect the liver, causing mild, moderate, or severe changes. Most of the time, they are silent infections, meaning they do not present symptoms. However, when present, they can manifest as fatigue, fever, malaise, dizziness, nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain, yellowed skin and eyes, dark urine, and light-colored stools. Hepatitis is a serious public health problem in Brazil and worldwide.
