AIDPI

Application for patient assessment according to IMCI strategy protocols

The World Health Organization (WHO) and the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), together with the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), based on the experiences accumulated with programs implemented in the past and aiming to rectify the imbalance and inequity existing in child health developed the IMCI strategy, officially adopted by the Ministry of Health (MS) of Brazil in 1996.

To qualify child care, the IMCI strategy emerges as a methodology for child health care, proposing a systematic assessment of the main factors that affect child health, integrating curative actions with prevention measures, seeking quality of care, introducing the concept of integrality, emerging as an alternative to apply the specific control programs that already exist (Acute Respiratory Infections-ARI, diarrhea, Growth and Development, Immunization, etc.), addressing the main health problems that affect children under five years of age, conditions that are generally preventable or easily treatable, through the application of appropriate and low-cost technologies.

The IMCI strategy process can be used by physicians, nurses and other healthcare professionals who work with sick infants and children from birth to 5 years of age. It is a case management process to be used in a first-level establishment such as an office, basic health unit or outpatient service in a hospital.

The IMCI strategy describes how to care for a child aged 0-5 years who comes to an office because they are ill or for a routine scheduled appointment to assess development or immunization status. The models provide instructions on how to systematically assess a child for general signs of frequent illness, malnutrition, anemia, and to identify other problems. In addition to the treatment, the process incorporates basic activities for the prevention of diseases and how to care for the pregnant woman.