In the fight against the new coronavirus pandemic, researchers from different areas of knowledge came together at Unicamp in a Task force. This group has been working on immediate demands, such as mass testing, and research into understanding the SARS-CoV-2 virus and Covid-19. With the aim of making this type of collaborative work continuous, expanding it to other emerging diseases, Ordinance 98 was published by the University, which seeks to perpetuate the task force.
A Working Group (GT) was created with the aim of articulating the proposal and strategies for continuing the work of the task force in the context of other emerging diseases. The Pro-Rector of Research at Unicamp, Professor Munir Salomão Skaf, notes that one of the motivations is the fact that there is no central and multidisciplinary body in Brazil that guides practices and planning around these diseases. In the context of the new coronavirus pandemic, he points out, it became clear how much actions of this type are needed.
According to the professor, the quick organization of a task force at Unicamp and the effective mobilization around various problems related to Covid-19 demonstrate that cooperative and multidisciplinary work can also contribute in the long term to other problems. The idea is that the task force becomes a program or center that also fulfills a preventive and guidance role regarding infectious diseases that cause social and economic impacts.
“We need to transform this experience into a permanent program, which can respond to problems more effectively and quickly, also carrying out prevention actions. There is a perception by society as a whole of the need to have a more permanent and robust structure that can act in a multidisciplinary way, both from an epidemiological and testing point of view, clinical trials, transnational research that seeks cures and control”, emphasizes.
The experience of Unicamp researchers in combating other epidemics, such as the Zika virus and dengue, also indicates that the University has a lot to contribute to combating diseases. The idea, therefore, is that there is a continuous group, prepared to deal with these situations, and that it is not organized only when problems arise. “Unicamp has everything in hand to create the first center or study program to control emerging diseases and the idea is to follow this path”, points out the dean.
Professor José Antônio Rocha Gontijo, advisor to the Rector's Office and also a member of the GT, highlights that the effective work of the task force, when continued, will represent a great gain in the post-pandemic period. “The idea is this: to use this great effort that was to bring together people who were voluntarily working and receiving benefits not only from a social point of view, from a solidarity point of view, but also from a research point of view”, he says.
You need to prepare for new problems
All the work that has been carried out to combat the pandemic, according to the task force coordinator and professor at the Institute of Biology (IB), Marcelo Mori, represented a gain in experience that can be applied to solving other problems. “It's not just because the organization works, but also because we need to be ready for new pandemics, new epidemics, new emerging diseases and diseases that increase in prevalence and that we don't have the preparation to deal with them in a preventive way”, he observes.
Not having a disease control center, as exists in European countries and the United States, recalls the professor, ends up meaning that researchers have to deal with problems as they occur. “What this implies is that diseases arrive here and we have to look for diagnostic, treatment, prevention and vaccine methods. This happened with Zika, dengue fever and other diseases. What we intend is to set up a structure along the lines of the task force to prevent, anticipate diseases and try to ensure that when the disease actually emerges, we have tools to diagnose, treat, prevent efficiently and instruct the Public Power. in public policies for its control”.
Answering common questions
Cooperative and multidisciplinary work is highlighted by members of the task force as a major differentiator. The success of the group's actions, which involve professionals from areas such as Biology, Medicine, Engineering and Human Sciences, is a motivation for the effort of a multidisciplinary research model to continue.
For the task force coordinator, the group, which carries out research and solves immediate problems, is also successful by organizing itself on other fronts essential to its functioning, such as fundraising and communication. According to the professor, each group dedicates itself to a crucial point to answer the main questions surrounding the problem of the disease, and they all contribute in a similar way to achieve the objectives. “This is what was achieved in the task force and what can contribute to other scientific problems”, he assesses.
The importance of integration around common problems is shared by other members of the task force, such as the professor at the Department of Sociology at the Institute of Philosophy and Human Sciences (IFCH), Sávio Cavalcante, and the professor at the Faculty of Medical Sciences ( FCM), Andrei Sposito.
In the FCM professor's assessment, Covid-19 brought together a group of researchers, who often before had no idea how much they could complement each other, in the search for answers around the same question. “Perhaps what Covid-19 has taught us is that the best way to create a highly productive collaborative work hub is to focus on the question, on the problem. Now our challenge is to be able to attract multiple interests in other questions and other problems that will affect a group of people or a portion of society,” he says.
For the IFCH professor, collective and interdisciplinary collaboration is a legacy for Unicamp, which can be applied to other processes and other problems. The pandemic, according to Sávio, also showed the importance of understanding the context in which it occurs, identifying and acting with the most vulnerable sectors and mobilizing sectors of the Public Power for joint actions. “From the point of view of the action that was carried out in the task force, I would highlight the need to articulate a network of interlocutors that must necessarily involve the communities served, the organizations they already have and the Public Power, in its various spheres. That’s a challenge,” he points out.
The professor also indicates that the idea of articulating a network that is ready to act more quickly also involves strengthening the spaces for science action, which is recurrently attacked by denialist sectors or the politicization of information. “There is not only denialism, but the political use of data and situations. With the articulation between different areas, we even begin to have a more effective action on how to face these attacks against science and against public universities”, he assesses.
Work group
The GT will meet for the first time this Thursday, December 10th. The group is part of: Munir Salomão Skaf (PRP/IQ); Marcelo Alves da Silva Mori (IB); Alessandro dos Santos Farias (IB); José Luiz Proença Modena (IB); André Schwambach Vieira (IB); Paulo Arruda (IB); Andrei Carvalho Sposito (FCM); Monica Jacques de Moraes (FCM); Sávio Machado Cavalcante (IFCH) and José Antonio Rocha Gontijo (GR/FCM).
Check out the ordinance that designated the GT (Ordinance GR-098) at: http://www.pg.unicamp.br/portarias.php
