The Universidad Industrial de Santander (UIS), through its UIS Málaga campus, hosted the consultation meetings for the 2027 Collective Public Health Intervention Plan (PIC), an initiative led by the Secretaría de Salud de Santander to identify the priority public health needs of the municipalities in the García Rovira province and guide actions to benefit their communities.
The meeting brought together representatives from municipal administrations, health departments, healthcare institutions, the Instituto Colombiano de Bienestar Familiar (ICBF), and community leaders. The objective was to promote dialogue and local participation in planning public health strategies for 2027.
During the event, the technical team from the Secretaría de Salud de Santander presented an epidemiological analysis of the main public health events recorded in the province over the previous five years. This information made it possible to compare departmental data with the needs identified by local stakeholders and advance the development of actions tailored to the realities of each municipality.
Jesús Chivata, Public Health Management Coordinator at the Secretaría de Salud de Santander, explained that these consultation meetings are held in different territories across the department to listen directly to communities and identify their priorities.
“Our goal is to create a space for engagement with the community, allowing us to hear firsthand about their needs and priorities so that the department can contribute to public health programs,” the official stated.
Topics addressed included mental health, vector-borne diseases, noncommunicable chronic diseases, the Expanded Program on Immunization (EPI), safe motherhood, and nutrition, among other essential areas for health promotion and disease prevention.
Meanwhile, Laura Andrea Rodríguez, a professor of Medicine at UIS in Bucaramanga and director of the Department of Public Health, highlighted that this collaborative initiative makes it possible to define actions under the Collective Public Health Intervention Plan based on an analysis of the health situation and the needs expressed by local communities.
The professor explained that the PIC includes free public health interventions for communities, with planning and implementation for 2027 guided by the outcomes of this consultation process.
UIS: A Partner in Developing Public Health Strategies
Holding this event at UIS Málaga reinforces the collaboration between the Universidad Industrial de Santander and the Secretaría de Salud de Santander. Both institutions work together to organize these consultation sessions through an interadministrative agreement.
