27 students from the Integrated Master's Degree in Medicine (MIM) have been part of the team from the Public Health Unit (USP) of the Arco Ribeirinho Health Center Group (ACES) since this day, which covers the municipalities of Alcochete, Barreiro, Moita and Montijo, in support Covid-19's screening and follow-up of high-risk contacts.
This team, created by the Faculty of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences of the University of Algarve to help «respond to the Covid-19 pandemic», is carried out as part of the students' academic projects.
According to the University of Algarve, «this is a differentiated aid, which will allow to increase the USP's response capacity and the speed of interruption of the transmission chains».
«The University of Algarve, through its VOIP telephone system, grants access to students to make calls, using its own mobile or fixed devices, thus being able to use UAlg's IT infrastructure at no cost and remotely in the comfort and safety of their homes, responding to the needs of the community in this critical phase», explains Ana Pinto de Oliveira, a doctor specializing in Public Health, the supervisor of this project.
This reinforcement "is very important because, to control the spread of COVID-19, interventions are needed to interrupt the chains of transmission between people, ensuring that the number of new cases generated for each confirmed case is kept as low as possible." explained, for its part, to UAlg.
The university stresses that the broader strategy includes "not only factors such as identification, isolation, testing and treatment of cases, but also contact tracing and quarantine, which are essential to reduce transmission and control the epidemic."
“The 27 students of the UAlg MIM play a crucial role in tracing contacts, a process that includes the identification, assessment and follow-up of people who have been exposed to the disease to prevent subsequent transmission”, he adds.
«At a very critical time for the country, when all health professionals are called to intervene, the integration of this group of students in the team of the Public Health Unit (USP) of ACES do Arco Ribeirinho translates into an important help for the tracking of contacts for Covid-19, which requires the identification of people who may have been exposed to the virus and their daily follow-up for 14 days from the last point of exposure», concludes the University of Algarve.
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