During the weekend, the Secretary of Health of Bogotá, Gerson Bermont Galavis, attended the Academic Committee of the Bogotá Health Observatory where he explained the need to implement an interoperable information system for the District, led by the Observatory, which covers data of all sectors to improve administration management, especially in health.
“We are negotiating an instrument with the entire District that allows us to carry out a global data analysis to identify vulnerability and risks and thus carry out effective interventions that respond to the needs of the population. In several sectors we have good observatories, but these together help maximize our attention to the people of Bogotá”Bermont explained.
This initiative arises in parallel with the new health model proposed for Bogotá, MAS Bienestar, denoting that “Primary Social Care is based on an operational strategy that requires very powerful information systems to know what the real conditions of those individuals, those families and those communities are and thus offer solutions to them.”
As such, this meeting included the participation of representatives of the universities: Javeriana, Nacional, de los Andes, del Rosario, Juan N. Corpas and Sábana, who agreed with Bermont’s initiative and applauded the work carried out with the version of the SaluData 2.0 Observatory, which currently manages more than 25 billion records.
“I have browsed the new platform and we congratulate them on their work, it is agile and easy to access. However, as we understand the importance of capturing citizen data in real time, adding a new technology tool such as machine learning would strengthen the Observatory as a main source of academic consultation and for the proposal of new public policies.”said Carlos Trillos, delegate of the Universidad del Rosario.
Sumapaz: a key territory for Social Primary Care
The Secretary of Health of Bogotá also met with the community that lives in the rural town of the city, in Sumapaz with the purpose of listening, recognizing and analyzing the citizen proposals that will contribute to the construction and implementation of the Care Model in Health MÀS Wellbeing from the Populated Center of Nazareth.
In the middle of the day, the secretary spoke with more than 40 representatives of disabilities, victims of the armed conflict, farmers, user associations, community participation committees in health and ethics; citizen oversight bodies, among others, highlighting that the city’s Health Care Model is built “between everyone.”
He also mentioned that the different experiences and lifestyles of citizens are an essential part of the MAS Bienestar Model and its implementation. “I am in an exercise to tour the entire territory of the city because we have just finished the established roadmap that will fulfill the promises we made to the city for the next 4 years. The purpose of the District Development Plan seeks to improve the well-being of the population and that is what brings us together here today.”
On the other hand, the capital’s health portfolio emphasized that “Sumapaz does not have the difficulties typical of a city, being a largely rural territory. Surely this population has a better quality of life compared to those of us in urban areas; however, Its inhabitants have other types of problems, related to the difficulty in timely access to different types of services, among other difficulties. It is for all this that we decided to listen to them.”
In order to incorporate the knowledge and experience of the community on issues such as land use, productive activities, the relationship with the land and health care, the leader of the Health Sector has urged the community to establish links of trust with the institutions. This call seeks to promote dialogue and collaboration, with the aim of developing joint solutions that respond effectively to the needs of the population.
Regarding the actions of the care plan, the secretary stated: “We will address not only Western medicine, but also traditional medicine, with an emphasis on environmental health and the establishment of home and community gardens” and to conclude this dialogue, he stated that the desire is to “build well-being,” and to do so it is necessary to understand the territory, its difficulties and the needs of the people. “And we are only going to achieve this by talking to our population. We need to understand, as a District, the importance of generating articulations and assisting people intersectorally.”
