EXPERIENCES IN ACADEMIA, SERVICE AND COMMUNITY INTEGRATION: THE CASE OF THE EXTENSION PROJECT TO FIGHT THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC IN SALVADOR-BAHIA IN 2020

Abstract

Objective: The purpose of this article is to report the experience of developing an extension project aimed at confronting the COVID-19 pandemic. Method: With the purpose of instrumentalizing the report, the reference of inter and transdisciplinary action is highlighted for the constitution of categories of reflective analysis of this experience. Starting from the need to face the COVID-19 pandemic as an ethical-political response to the immediate needs of society, actors from the various cooperation spaces were brought together around common objectives. The intervention was designed in order to use innovative technologies, anchored and stratified in the axes of health promotion, with the aim of promoting the isolation of the elderly according to their context in order to reduce the socio-sanitary impacts. Results: Among the main results, the execution of articulated actions between actors representing academia and health services stands out, with the constitution of common objectives agreed between these actors. Execution reports of the project's axes of action point to results on social vulnerability factors reinforced by the pandemic. Conclusion: There was an effective impact on the target population of the intervention with evidence of improvement in social and sanitary conditions of isolation to face COVID-19. The affective and educational reception had a direct impact on the conditions of vulnerability of this population and mitigated the risks heightened by the pandemic. This scenario allowed for our learning in the sense of recognizing in interdisciplinary action a potential for facing emerging and complex situations.