The role of communication for social change in community health processes. Analysis of three case studies in Colombia

Abstract

Objective: This article analyzes the role of communication for social change in three cases of community health developed in the cities of Medellin, Barranquilla and Bogota, Colombia (2019-2022). These processes recognize local forms of social organization, community leadership, and communicative practices in diverse urban sociocultural networks, through the identification of communicative practices aimed at social transformation processes; understanding the role of the subjects as agents of social change in the context of the three initiatives and the recognition of new conceptions of communication for social change as a fundamental element of community health and the enjoyment of life in local environments.
Materials and methods: The research is addressed from the hermeneutic-interpretative approach, with qualitative methodology through case studies methods and research techniques such as documentary review and virtual semi-structured interviews that were applied to officials, promoters, and walkers of the Health Institutions, professionals from the universities and co-participants in the formulation of the programs carried out.
Results: The strategic vision of the three case studies on health communication consists of transforming the objectives of informing and disseminating to the creation of social knowledge appropriation processes through activities that lead communities to adopt, experiment, and propose actions for prevention and health promotion based on the new knowledge acquired and practicing it in daily life. This concept is developed in the communication area as an element of community health and the enjoyment of life in local environments, through which the population achieves a leading role, together with health officials, promoters, walkers, doctors, and nurses, triggering processes of social transformation.
Conclusions: The programs “Parque de la Vida” in Medellín, “Caminantes de la Salud” in Barranquilla, and “Gestores de la Salud” in Bogotá, conceive health as a commitment to social and individual well-being, where the communication/health binomial occupies a central place, accompanied by education on citizens' rights and community participation, key to its strengthening. From communication, processes are generated not only for information, but also for awareness, knowledge, and mobilization.
In the three cases analyzed, the interviewees mentioned the importance of health activities led by the different governmental, academic, and community entities regarding "Community Health" and "Communication for Social Change" concepts. This has been achieved by articulating institutional and multisectoral projects with the community, establishing a network-like communication between the different governmental and non-governmental entities, mayors and community leaders, and the population in general. During the research, we found empowered social subjects who recognize the value of their work in the health community. Health campaigns involve the population through communicative events for social transformation that allow cultural mediation of the message. The population demands intervention in their needs and communicates this through the leaders. Participation is present at all levels. Finally, it should be noted that during the pandemic, ICTs became the means of dissemination and community participation in the three cases investigated. WhatsApp was the main channel of communication with the localities, this became the opportunity for health managers to enhance their professional work in community health, adapting and resisting, despite the weakening of some processes that were isolated by the confinement. Today, the work proposed by the three experiences is beginning to recover.