@article {Marin261, author = {Gustavo H Marin and Jenny Fonseca and Graciela Etchegoyen and Lupe Marin and Itziar Kain Aramburu and Rocio Rodriguez and Pablo Vetere and Graciela Mateo and Marcelo Bourgeois and Federico Campuzano-Castro and Ignacio Babbini and Gina Marin and Tomas Canevari and Horacio Bozzano}, title = {Management model of the COVID-19 pandemic in socially vulnerable communities}, volume = {8}, number = {4}, pages = {261--272}, year = {2022}, doi = {10.1136/bmjinnov-2021-000870}, publisher = {BMJ Specialist Journals}, abstract = {Introduction Several public policies were proposed to reduce the negative impact of COVID-19 pandemic. This work aimed to determine how a management model is capable of strengthening the community network, providing support, healthcare and channelling public government{\textquoteright}s aid during COVID-19 pandemic situation.Methods It is an intervention study that tested the effectiveness of a management model for both healthcare and essential goods access in a socially vulnerable neighbourhood called {\textquoteleft}Puente de Fierro{\textquoteright} in La Plata the capital of Buenos Aires State, Argentina, during the COVID-19 pandemic. Altos de San Lorenzo suburb area was considered as control group. Variables studied were: level of contagion and death due to the SARS-CoV-2 virus; access to food, medicine and other goods; strengthening of community networks; performance of government programmes in territory.Results A new management paradigm was tested by moving essential goods towards the people, instead of making the people move to obtain those benefits. Accessibility to {\textquoteleft}Food Bag{\textquoteright} and {\textquoteleft}Food Bank{\textquoteright} were significantly increased, a reduction of contagion level and mortality rate for COVID-19 was achieved (2.3/100 000 vs 3.6/100 000 inhabitants in control area; and {\textquoteleft}fatality rate{\textquoteright} was 2.8\% vs 3.6\%, respectively). Support was also provided to installed in local stores virtual payment devices for food cards acceptance.Conclusion The management model based in healthcare and goods and service supplies during COVID-19 pandemic reduced the negative impact of disease and its measures of isolation in socially vulnerable neighbourhoods.Data are available in a public, open access repository.}, issn = {2055-8074}, URL = {https://innovations.bmj.com/content/8/4/261}, eprint = {https://innovations.bmj.com/content/8/4/261.full.pdf}, journal = {BMJ Innovations} }