The healthcare policies adopted by the Brazilian government resulted in the stabilization or even reduction of the Aids epidemic in the country, although the incidence of the disease seems to be increasing in smaller municipalities. In this context, the impact of Aids in Teresópolis/RJ was studied in order to obtain a regional profile of the epidemic as a model for demographically similar cities. To achieve this purpose, many epidemiological relevant aspects of Aids were compared between Teresópolis, the state of Rio de Janeiro (RJ) and Brazil from 2000-2004, as well as the incidences of the disease in many cities in RJ from 1996-2004 by using information from the Sistema Nacional de Agravos Notificáveis-SINAN (National Disease Reporting System) and Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística-IBGE (Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics) databases. The results indicate that the Aids epidemic in Teresópolis is similar to that of the state of RJ and the country with small variations, although the incidence of Aids is still high in comparison to other municipalities of the state. In conclusion, although Aids is treated as a priority in the country, a careful investigation in small municipalities outside metropolitan areas is necessary in order to control Aids epidemic trends in such locations.
Aids; Epidemic; Municipality
