Celso de Souza Catelani

Spatial analysis of neonatal mortality in Paraíba Valley, Southeastern Brazil, 1999 to 2001

OBJECTIVE To assess the spatial distribution of neonatal mortality. METHODS An ecological and exploratory study using a spatial distribution of mortality data approach was carried out in the Paraiba Valley, Southeastern Brazil, from 1999-2001. Spatial analysis was conducted in a georeference database for 35 cities in the region and routines of spatial statistics. Mortality data were obtained from the State of São Paulo Health Department. The following variables were analyzed in this study: early, late and total neonatal mortality rates; and Human Development Index (HDI) values per city in 2000. Spatial dependency was measured using global Morans Coefficients and local Morans Index. A correlation analysis between variables was also conducted. RESULTS There were 111,574 newborns with 1,149 deaths in the early neonatal period (10.29/1,000 newborns), 285 in the late neonatal period (2.5/1,000 newborns) totalizing 1,434 neonatal deaths (12.85/1,000 newborns). Estimated global Morans coefficients showed statistical significance (p<005) for early and total neonatal mortality. Local Morans index values showed clusters of municipalities for early and total neonatal mortalities rates. CONCLUSIONS Spatial analysis allowed to identifying spatial clusters for early and total neonatal mortality rates in the central area of the Paraiba Valley.

Influência das cavas de extração de areia no balanço hídrico do vale do Paraíba do Sul

The extraction of sand in the valley of the Paraiba do Sul River, carried out in a vulnerable environment, is responsible for significant environmental impacts. This work had the objective of investigating the increase of the total area of lakes created in the mining process for a period of 11 years and of verifying the influence of the evaporation from these lakes on the regional water balance. Thus, a Geographic Information System data basis was implemented using the GIS software package, SPRING, and Landsat imagery. Scenes 218/76 and 219/76 were used for the quantification of the mining areas and for the assessment of the evolution of the activity in the area for a period of 11 years. With data from a local climatological station (UNITAU/INMET-83784) integrated into the database and with the total area of artificial lakes resultant from sand mining activity, it was possible to estimate the increase of the evaporation rate due to this activity. An increase of 591 ha, in 1993 to 1,726 ha in 2003 in the area of lakes was observed. The resulting increase in the evaporating rate was 203% with 19,157,022 m³ evaporated in 2003 correspondent to the consumption of a city with more than 326,000 inhabitants, considering the average consumption for the State of Sao Paulo which is greater than the Brazilian average.