Chagas: a comprehensive look for an effective approach

Abstract

When we talk about Chagas in an academic field of biomedical sciences it is usually understood in terms of "Chagas disease", and we expect entomological, clinical, diagnostic aspects, or number/distribution of affected people, to be addressed, to name a few. On the other hand, if social, political, economic, productive, educational, communicational, ethical, inclusion, diversity and gender aspects were included, it would probably come as a surprise. Nevertheless, these topics are also part of the Chagas matrix and affect its comprehensive approach because Chagas is much more than a disease: it is a complex socio-environmental health problem. To illustrate this idea, the Group “What do we talk about when we talk about Chagas?” (¿De qué hablamos cuando hablamos de Chagas?) uses the metaphor of a “kaleidoscopic puzzle” where, as in every puzzle, each piece is essential for completing the image and, as in every kaleidoscope, each piece contributes its own shape, colour, and size, dynamically interacting with the rest of the pieces to intervene and complete the image. This kaleidoscopic analogy helps us understand our scientific contribution as a piece of a more comprehensive cultural and collective construction, in which knowledge originates from many sources. Furthermore, when we analyse our scientific activity in a fractal way, we can see that this is also made up of pieces of different nature, such as our object of study, where we work (group, institute, infrastructure, funds, etc.), our motivation, our driving-values, and our ethical and epistemic position.