The Industrial University of Santander (UIS) served as a public health screening site: 180 students, faculty members, and staff underwent rapid tests for the early detection of Chagas disease as part of the national “No Baby with Chagas” campaign. The results were encouraging: none of the individuals tested returned a positive result for the infection.
The initiative, coordinated by the Specialized Health Unit (UISALUD), the Santander Departmental Health Secretariat, and the Bucaramanga Health and Environment Secretariat, prioritized collecting samples from women aged 15 to 49, a group considered high-risk due to the potential for congenital transmission of the Trypanosoma cruzi parasite, the causative agent of Chagas disease.
“Our goal is to detect at an early age that no babies have Chagas disease and, above all, to identify congenital transmission in women of childbearing age in a timely manner to ensure prompt treatment,” said Alba María Amaya Solano, coordinator of the Vector-Borne Diseases Program at the Bucaramanga Secretariat of Health and Environment.
According to Amaya Solano, Bucaramanga and Piedecuesta were the two municipalities in Santander selected by the Ministry of Health and the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) to implement this population-based screening strategy. April, designated as Chagas Prevention Month in Colombia, was the ideal time to expand the initiative beyond the target population and include other members of the university community.
Chagas disease is a parasitic infection transmitted primarily by the bite of triatomine bugs, commonly known as “pito” in the region, although it can also be transmitted congenitally—that is, from mother to child during pregnancy or childbirth. This latter form of transmission is particularly concerning because it often goes unnoticed and can lead to serious cardiac complications if not detected and treated in time.
“At UISALUD, we always strive to support these kinds of community-based initiatives because we firmly believe that health is not just the responsibility of each individual, but a shared commitment. When we join initiatives like this, we are saying that our university community and our users deserve concrete, accessible, and timely actions that promote their well-being,” explained Adriana Sánchez, Epidemiology Coordinator at UISALUD.
The event at UIS is part of a broader strategy aimed at building an up-to-date epidemiological registry and ensuring timely access to treatment. For the Bucaramanga Health Department, bringing testing directly to venues such as the university represents a commitment to active prevention: bringing health services to the community, rather than waiting for the community to come to them.
With results confirming the good health status of the population evaluated during this event, UISALUD reaffirms its commitment to the comprehensive health of its university community and to the inter-institutional partnerships that make such initiatives possible. Collaboration between academia and public health entities is, precisely, one of the pillars that enables initiatives of this nature to have a real impact on people’s lives.
