OBJECTIVES: to assess the strategy for Integrated Management Childhood Illness by Community Health Agents. METHODS: assessment study accomplished in the cities of Recife and Olinda, Northeast Brazil. One hundred and ninety five structured questionnaires were applied by 106 community health agents during home visits to children under five years old in the period of October to November, 2002. RESULTS: 91,7% of the children under two months old were correctly assessed for signs of danger and 83,3% for signs of alert. The assessment of conditions such as "nutrition", "growth" and "vaccination" indicated that the method was well performed in 96,9%, 99% and 99% of the cases, respectively. In 73,1% of visits to children in the age group between two and five years old, the community health agents followed the protocol for danger signs correctly; as for alert signs the performance reached was of 80.8%. CONCLUSIONS: Community agents demonstrated they had the capability of learning and applying the strategy correctly. The "Procedure manual" demonstrated to be an adequate tool to address the health conditions of children under five years old in the community.
Program evaluation; Child health; Child health service
