Evaluation of leprosy surveillance system in the Amazon region, Brazil, 2001-2007.

OBJECTIVES: We evaluated the leprosy surveillance system in the Amazon region, Brazil, 2001-2007, using evaluation guidelines from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

RESULTS: We found that the leprosy surveillance system in the Amazon region is simple, presents good data quality and is representative in describing the sociodemographic profile and clinical classification of cases. The predictive value positive is high and its sensitivity is unknown. The grade two disability artificially increased in 2007 during the transition to a new version of the information system. The cases are reported, receive treatment and are discharged from the system as treatment completion in a timely fashion. Nevertheless, the dermatological and neurological examination introduces complexity to the system, which may account for the irregular data quality related to the evaluation of the disability degree, the system's lack of representativeness to describe mild neurological manifestations and low proportion of household contacts investigated.

CONCLUSIONS: Despite its limitations, the leprosy surveillance system proved to be useful. Recommendations for its improvement were issued based on the results found. More data on surveillance systems in endemic countries are needed to facilitate valid comparisons between country indicators.