Abstract
Health information systems in most Central American countries fail to produce reliable, timely, representative, and useful information to define target groups and interventions. This situation originated the need to develop new methodologies for the collection, analysis, and dissemination of information regarding health and nutrition, as well as health services. For this purpose, between 1985 and 1987, the Institute of Nutrition of Central America and Panama (INCAP) and the Ministry of Health and Social We/fare of Guatemala jointly implemented a sentinel surveillance subsystem. During this period, 119 rural communities of 1,000 + 250 inhabitants were longitudinally studied in four rounds of surveys. The Institute transferred the methodology and results to the Ministry of Health through INCAP's communication channels: dissemination of information, direct technical assistance, training, and research. The methodology has not been widely used by national health officialis; therefore, it has become necessary to develop operational research to assess the relationship between decision-making and information availability.