Overview

Based on a comparison of the COVID-19 pandemic situation in different regions of the world and between countries in the North and South, the authors reaffirm the importance of recognising the differences in context and the principles of social justice and equity in responding to the pandemic.

Differences in demographic, social and economic structure, forms of sociability, power relations, social infrastructure, job and income sources insecurity, access to health care and resources to sustain infection containment measures based on isolation and response of health services make it imperative to consider response possibilities appropriate to the context and capable of mobilising existing capacities. These include syndromic diagnosis - using the set of signs and symptoms to identify possible cases of infection - the role of community health workers and health workers working in communities, and community mobilisation.

This mobilisation contrasts with the authoritarian responses of states, whether in the technocratic version or in the version of imposing order and the universal imposition of containment measures that disregard context and consequences in terms of equity and justice. The experiences and knowledges of communities and the mobilisation by them of their resources and capacities are crucial if responses to the pandemic are to be vectors of greater justice and equity.