ABSTRACT
Objective:
to reflect on social control in health and the contributions that nursing can make to cope with the COVID-19 pandemic.
Methods:
this is a theoretical reflection, elaborated from discussions based on literature and the experience of authors’ performance in social control and in Primary Care. It is divided into two topics: the first, related to aspects of institutionalized social control; the second, related to the perspectives for nursing in this space.
Results:
limits and relevant aspects for nurses’ role in social control are presented, contributing to a perspective of praxis in health based on their ethical-political commitment and their technical competence in the coordination and management of care to face the pandemic.
Final considerations:
nurses’ role in social control favors the strengthening of the struggle for the right to life above profits, especially through popular participation in the community context in Primary Care.
Descriptors:
Community Health Nurses; Social Control; Primary Health Care; Nursing; COVID-19