Profile of cocaine and crack users in Brazil Perfil dos usuários de cocaína e crack no Brasil

This article aims to systematize the profile of cocaine and crack users in Brazil. The study adopted a literature review of the MEDLINE, LILACS, Cochrane Library databases and CAPES thesis/dissertation database. Data were grouped in thematic categories: national household surveys, surveys of specific population groups, profile of patients that seek treatment, and mortality and morbidity. Within each category the principal findings from the Brazilian literature were described and then discussed. The article concludes that the information on cocaine and crack consumption in Brazil is still incipient, but that the scientific community can already draw on a relevant theoretical corpus that can be used to update current public policies on this issue.<br>Este artigo tem como objetivo sintetizar o perfil dos usuários de cocaína e crack no Brasil. Foi construído por meio de revisão da literatura com base em dados (MEDLINE, LILACS e Biblioteca Cochrane) e no banco de teses da CAPES. Os dados foram agrupados em categorias temáticas, quais sejam: levantamentos domiciliares nacionais, populações específicas, perfil dos pacientes que procuram tratamento, mortalidade e morbidade. Dentro de cada categoria os principais achados da literatura nacional foram descritos e posteriormente discutidos. O artigo conclui que informações relacionadas ao consumo de cocaína e crack no Brasil ainda são incipientes, mas já temos à disposição da comunidade científica um conjunto teórico relevante que pode ser utilizado visando à atualização das atuais políticas públicas referentes a este tema

Path of infectious diseases in Brazil in the last 50 years: an ongoing challenge

ABSTRACT In this article, we comment on the main features of infectious diseases in Brazil in the last 50 years, highlighting how much of this path Revista de Saúde Pública could portray. From 1967 to 2016, 1,335 articles focusing on infectious diseases were published in Revista de Saúde Pública. Although the proportion of articles on the topic have decreased from about 50.0% to 15.0%, its notability remained and reflected the growing complexity of the research required for its control. It is noteworthy that studies design and analysis strategies progressively became more sophisticated, following the great development of epidemiology in Brazil in the recent decades. Thus, the journal has followed the success of public health interventions that permitted to control or eliminate numerous infectious diseases &#8211; which were responsible, in the past, for high rates of morbidity and mortality &#8211;, and also followed the reemergence of diseases already controlled and the emergence of until then unknown diseases, with a strong impact on the Brazilian population, establishing a little predictable and very challenging path