The purpose of this paper is to study occurrence of malaria in four different regions of the state of Pará and its possible relationships with deforestation rates. A retrospective study using secondary data from 1988 to 2005, using malaria incidence records reported in four cities in the state (Anajás, Itaituba, Santana do Araguaia and Viseu), as well as deforestation rates provided by the PRODES-INPE. The quantiles method was applied to establish five categories or classes of malaria incidence for each city, and a state IPA was generated with the contributions of these cities. From 1988 to 1994, the curves of incidence of malaria follow deforestation rates. From 1995, there are consecutive years of high incidence levels after years of high deforestation rates, as registered in 1995, 2000 and 2004. It was noticed that after periods of intense deforestation the occurrence of malaria presented an incidence pattern between high and very high, suggesting that deforestation may be a factor in maintaining and increasing the number of cases in the state of Pará.
Malaria incidence; deforestation; quantiles
