OBJECTIVES: to determine the filling percentage of the "Child Care Card" (CC) focusing on the follow-up and development of children under one year old in Feira de Santana, Bahia, 2001. METHODS: cross-sectional study. Two thousand three hundred and nineteen questionnaires were filled by mothers of children under one year old in 44 health clinics selected through simple stratification with the use of statistical significance measurements through the Chi-Square method and p<5,0%. Prevalence ratio was calculated with confidence interval at 95%. RESULTS: 95.5% of the mothers interviewed had the "Care Card". Apgar curves were reported in 28.4 % of the "Care Cards". In relation to growth and development curves 39.6% and 77.9% respectively were not filled. Children of mothers who did not work away from home and/ or with incomes lower than two minimum salaries had a significantly better chance of having their weight reported in the "Care Card". Primiparous and mothers with an education level above elementary school were associated to a higher probability of furnishing development curves information. Residence in the work area of community health agents and infant's age under six months were indicated as protection factors for filling the development curve. CONCLUSIONS: in the population studied, the "Care Card" was not being fully utilized specially concerning development and Apgar data.
Growth; Child development; Child welfare; Health promotion
