The three faces of a pandemic: polemological, socioeconomic and health approaches

Abstract

Understanding a pandemic as a disaster of worldwide proportions, it appears that its fight must be carried out by central government bodies better able to manage crises and emergencies. First, through the polemological approach, we sought to scientifically study conflicts as a social phenomenon. Second, through the socioeconomic approach, we sought to understand how the health measures applied by countries in the fight against COVID-19 impacted their economies. And, finally, through the health approach, we sought to identify and carefully discuss how COVID-19 impacted countries. The article, supported by exploratory, bibliographic and documentary research, was conducted by the inductive method. A systematic literature review was carried out using Scopus' native search engines. Then, the documents arising from the review underwent bibliometric analysis and submitted to a qualitative analysis. Thus, leading to the discovery that the impacts that emerged were different between central and peripheral countries. Additionally, it was found that, despite the enormous economic disparity between countries, the central nations were not able to advance in the immunization process. And it was proposed that the study be a starting point for the need for a multidisciplinary approach, with the use of data analysis tools, to guide the decisions of public managers. In addition, from this study, opportunities for future research related to the topic may arise, such as, for example, the development of a national governance model, considering the risks of the emergence of new pandemic outbreaks, due to global warming and/or the sustainable use of natural resources, through the advancement of cities over forests.