State and municipal secretaries of health met today in BrasÀlia, capital of Brazil, for the signing of the term of adhesion to the Vigisus II Project, the second phase of a US$ 600 million loan agreement between the World Bank (IBRD) and the Brazilian government to improve and strengthen the National Health Surveillance System.
The resources will be used to support activities in the areas of epidemiological surveillance, prevention and control of contagious and non-contagious diseases, and environmental surveillance in the health sphere, as well as to strengthen institutional capacity for health surveillance administration in the states and municipalities.
The project also provides for the training of human resources, the improvement of state laboratories, and the purchase of equipment, vehicles, and insecticide sprayers.
The Vigisus project began in 1999 and is being developed in three phases.
The first phase, Vigisus I, took place from 1999 to 2004 and was devoted to the organization of the national health surveillance system.
The second phase of the project will begin in 2005 and end in 2008 and will focus on the modernization of the National Health Surveillance System.
The third phase, Vigisus III, is scheduled for implementation between 2009 and 2011 and will serve to consolidate the system.
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