The Campo de Borja region hosts the presentation of the European SAM project to transform primary care from the local level

The initiative, presented in the Campo de Borja region by the researchers María Zúñiga Antón (IUCA-Unizar) and Emilia Vargas (IIS Aragón), It strengthens coordination between the health, social and local sectors.

The regional headquarters of the Campo de Borja region hosted, on March 27, the presentation day of European SAM project (Social Asset Mapping), an initiative of the program Sudoe Interreg aimed at integrating the social determinants of health and community assets into primary health care through the development of a Intelligent Digital Twin.

In Aragon, the project is being developed with the participation of University of Zaragoza and the Aragon Health Research Institute (IIS Aragón), in collaboration with Aragonese Health ServiceThis collaboration has been key to establishing a connection with the healthcare sector and facilitating the deployment of the project in the Borja Basic Health Zone.

The day began with the official opening, featuring speeches by Nuria Gayan, Director General of Public Health; Isabel Arnas, Deputy Director of the Single Primary Care Management Unit; and María Pilar Echeverría, Director of Social Services for the Campo de Borja region. Following this, Belén Benedé presented the Community Care Strategy in Primary Care in Aragon and its implementation through the recommendation of health assets in the Borja Basic Health Area. Next, María Zúñiga and Emilia Vargas, researchers on the project in Aragon, presented the SAM project. The session concluded with a question and answer period and discussion involving various stakeholders from the health, social, and municipal sectors.

The SAM project: objectives and approach

The SAM project aims to promote social and healthcare innovation through the development of an Intelligent Digital Twin, a tool that quantifies the social determinants of health and maps health assets across a territory. It also highlights the value of local resources and services as health assets, promoting well-being and community health through an integrated approach.

In this sense, the project is moving towards a more preventive, community-based and territory-based model of care, strengthening coordination between the health, social and local sectors, and facilitating decision-making in both clinical practice and public policies.

Actions planned in the Borja Basic Health Zone

The Borja Primary Healthcare Area will be one of the pilot territories for the project, where various initiatives aimed at strengthening community health will be developed. These include:

• The identification, inventory and systematization of health assets.
• Making these resources visible through informational materials and their signage in the territory.
• Organizing community activities, such as a health fair.
• The analysis of the social determinants of health, including the calculation of social vulnerability indices.
• The development and implementation of the Intelligent Digital Twin as a tool to support decision-making in healthcare consultations.

Furthermore, the project includes strengthening the community fabric, promoting citizen participation, and supporting public decision-making through territorialized information, contributing to prioritizing interventions and improving health planning.

Impact on the territory

The implementation of SAM in the region represents an opportunity to move towards a more preventative, participatory, and community-based healthcare model. Its main benefits include:

• Improving healthcare through more personalized interventions.
• Integrating community resources into daily clinical practice.
• Strengthening coordination between health, social and local agents.
• Promoting healthy lifestyles and active aging.
• The positioning of the Borja Basic Health Zone as a benchmark in socio-health innovation at the European level.

The event also provided a space for dialogue between healthcare professionals, public administrations and local stakeholders, laying the foundations for the development of the project in the Basic Health Area over the coming years.

Participants in the event:

The event featured the participation of Nuria Gayan, General Director of Public Health; Isabel Arnas, Deputy Director of the Single Management of Primary Care y Belén Benedé, Coordinator of the Community Care Strategy in Primary Care in AragonIn addition to healthcare management positions from the Government of Aragon and the Zaragoza III Health Sector, the Basic Health Zone corresponds almost entirely to the Campo de Borja region, which was represented by its president, María Eugenia Coloma Lavilla, along with María Pilar Echeverría, director of Social Services, Alfonso Navarro, regional councilor, and Susana Gil and Esther Guillén (Youth and Sports technicians). Representatives from different municipalities participated: Manuel Alcega, Alberite de San Juan; Pedro Royo, Bisimbre; Aitor Tabuenca, Borja; Esteban Lagota, Magallón; and Sergio Sisamón, Tabuenca, as well as medical and nursing professionals from the Borja Basic Health Zone, including Emilia Vargas, Principal Investigator of the project at the Aragon Health Research Institute (IIS Aragón). 

In the scientific field, the University of Zaragoza and the University Institute of Research in Environmental Sciences of Aragon (IUCA) were represented by geographers María Zúñiga Antón, principal investigator of the SAM project at the University and in charge of the presentation of the project; and Carmen Bentué Martínez, Postdoctoral researcher, both members of the Group of Studies in Territorial Planning (GEOT).