Abstract
The paper examines the relationship between the supervision carried out in the municipalities by the main Brazilan supervisory institution (Controladoria Geral da União—CGU, in portuguese) and the incidence of dengue cases in them. Since the audited municipalities were randomized, this allows the identification of a control group that adequately represents the counterfactual of the treated group. The sample was composed of all municipalities that could be selected for that CGU inspection cycle, that is, 1520 municipalities, of which 70 were drawn and therefore belong to the study treatment group. We identified a negative effect of the policy on the incidence of the disease. However, when we consider a model with lags, we note that this initial impact from the drawing did not persist throughout the year of the inspection. Our analysis suggests that when federal resources are monitored, municipalities reduce irregularities, which may contribute to a decrease in the number of dengue cases.
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Notes
Initially, 70 of 1520 municipalities were randomly selected, but 4 municipalities were excluded from the sample due to delays in the implementation of the inspections.
These workers are responsible for surveying residences, deposits, vacant lots and commercial establishments to search for endemic foci. They must carry out careful inspections of water tanks, gutters, roofs, and applications of larvicides and insecticides. They also provide guidelines on animal censuses and the prevention and treatment of infectious diseases. These activities are essential to prevent and control diseases such as dengue, sores, leishmaniasis and malaria.
The discarded cases are those that were initially considered as suspected dengue, but that the laboratory diagnosis is negative for dengue, or points to another disease or the clinical diagnosis points to another disease.
The drawing for the municipalities that would be audited was held in May 2016.
(CID10) Datasus: monthly information about treated and untreated groups.
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Benini Duarte, G., de Souza Melo, A. & Firmino Costa da Silva, D. Do government audits reduce dengue? Estimating the impact of federal monitoring lotteries program on dengue incidence. Int J Health Econ Manag. 19, 359–369 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10754-018-9259-7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10754-018-9259-7