Eighteenth International Conference on Interdisciplinary Social Sciences

Abstract

Humanity experienced a health, social and economic crisis caused by SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19), which generated high-level impacts on people’s physical and mental health due to the disease’s own and collateral effects. The pandemic meant a challenge for those who made decisions on how to address it and thus minimize its impact, due to high uncertainty from the scientific environment, the infodemic, and pre-existing difficulties in the health sector. Colombia is the third country in Latin America with the most cases of COVID-19, so addressing the pandemic involved developing strategies such as coordination between academia and the health sector, and working with the community to minimize the impact on vulnerable people. A case study was developed about the approach to the pandemic in the department of Santander in Colombia, as a social investigation in which the context and evolution over time were studied. The case study considered security policies in the face of social risk, regional actors from the public and private sectors that articulated to mitigate the effects, and community awareness to comply with security measures and promote self-care. As a result, it was identified that in the different stages of the pandemic the health sector maintained the challenge associated with the care of people’s physical and mental health, that there was no adequate articulation between the government and academia, and that it is necessary to establish early actions related to community health to prevent and/or mitigate the impact of a pandemic.