Vulnerability, community dynamics and health response to COVID-19 in Cuba. Methodological approach and challenges

Abstract

The infection by SARS-CoV-2 and severe forms of COVID-19 are associated with social determinants of health and conditions of vulnerability. However, during the pandemic response, a medicalized conception of vulnerability predominated, failing to capture the social, economic, political, and cultural changes generated by the health crisis, the multiple associated vulnerabilities, and the new ways of experiencing these vulnerabilities. The study of these changes would benefit from the theoretical and methodological approach of social sciences such as socio-anthropology, which is more open to a multidimensional and intersubjective perspective. The presented research proposes a qualitative, ethnographic design to analyze the relationship between emerging or exacerbated forms of vulnerability due to the pandemic and the health and community responses to contain SARS-CoV-2/COVID-19 in a context as unique as Cuba. Significant methodological challenges during the process are anticipated. The objective of this article is to examine the preliminary results of the exploratory phase of the study and their implications for the reconsideration of the proposed protocol.