Social medicine is a branch of medical science that deals with collective health, that is, it is the field of knowledge that deals with social aspects related to health or disease and everything that this involves.
This concept arose in 1848 when studies between medicine and society were carried out and they discovered that social factors can have serious implications in people’s medical conditions, that is, they managed to understand how social and economic conditions impact individuals and from Therefore, it has sought to promote education, promotion, organization and development of health programs that can provide and lead to a healthier society.
Today, health personnel who practice social or community medicine must have specific knowledge of primary care, social techniques, establishment of ethical parameters, and above all, they must have strategies that bring people closer to being cared for. In addition, you must make prior and periodic evaluations of the environment, culture, food and the way of living of the community, since each society works and moves in a different way, which can cause certain types of diseases
One of the great differences between individual medicine and social medicine is that the former works face to face with a patient, recognizing that each individual is different and unrepeatable, only 2 people are involved, who are the patient and the doctor and in most cases they are cared for in protected and safe places, while the second category, medical personnel recognize the suffering and suffering of individuals based on the vulnerability of the environment, living spaces and their way of life. It is not a safe or private environment and they are cared for by communities and not as independent beings.
One of the clearest examples of this is the consequences that the pandemic is leaving and the current situation due to Covid19. It is a stressful situation that has brought with it countless social and psychological problems, where people have begun to suffer from anxiety, insecurity and even depression. To this can be added the number of people who lost their jobs, which means that many households did not have enough food to have a good quality of life or the lack of emotional support from family and friends due to the distance imposed to prevent the spread of the virus.
It is here where social medicine appears and seeks to understand how social and economic conditions impact health, and requires an interdisciplinary approach in interventions and monitoring of people and their families.