| Abstract
| - Sentinel site surveillance methodology is used in Nicaragua, Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala, Panama and in the Mexican state of Guerrero to collect reliable planning-oriented health information at community level. Limited resources available for health measurement can be concentrated in these sites which, when taken together, reflect the diversity of health conditions; some sites include health facilities and others do not, in proportion with the coverage of the population at large. Changes in health status over time have been measured in relation to coverage with health care activities, using repeatable problem-specific cycles of household interviews. A key consideration is the development of methodologies and tools to facilitate the decentralization of capabilities of questionnaire design, and the organization and analysis of data. Infant and child mortality are key concerns, but the methodology has also been used to investigate other mortality and morbidity in relation to coverage and costs of health services, and knowledge, attitudes and practices related to priority diseases at the community level. These data cannot easily be obtained from sources other than community surveys, and the sentinel site framework allows for their collection in a manner that facilitates systematic planning under conditions of limited resources, including limited capabilities of handling data, and of making it available for planning.
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