Regional News

Between March, 21 and  23 were held in the Dominican Republic, several activities to assess the conditions in this country for the development of a Virtual Campus of Public Health Node.

During a meeting with Mr. Nery Sanchez Paulino, Director of Ministry of Health Human Resources and his team, with the participation of Drs. Jose B. Jardines and Rosa María Borrell Regional Advisers PAHO / WHO and the National Human Resources Consulting Health Dr. Selma Zapata, the great interest raised by decentralizing some of the regional learning courses and the potential for the country to take advantage of CVSP tools.

On March 18 took place in Quito, Ecuador a working meeting with the Human Resources Division of the Ministry of Health and representatives of public universities in order to evaluate the possible formation of a Node Virtual Campus of Public Health (VCPH) in Ecuador.

With the aim of continuing the agreements of the Pro-Tempore Secretariat of the V Space Conference of the Americas, developed between 16 and 18 March the "Regional Workshop on Telemedicine / Telehealth in Puyo, Ecuador.

The meeting was chaired by the Minister Fernando Suárez Moreno, Secretary Pro-tempore of the V Conference Space and Dr. Cesar Hermida, Director of Science and Technology, Ministry of Health, was attended also by the institutions participating in the National Telemedicine, as well as Dr. Jose B. Jardines, Regional Coordinator of the Virtual Campus of Public Health.

23 March, 2010, Washington, DC- Approximately 200 participants from 22 countries in the Americas Region attended on 23 March, in person or virtually, the opening ceremony of the Leaders in International Health Program “Edmundo Granda Ugalde” (LIHP), now in its third year as a decentralized Program.

On 4 March, the second meeting of the technical team of the nodes of countries in this year 2010 through Elluminate, synchronous communication tool that has been useful for the Virtual Campus of Public Health (VCPH) and was implemented during 2009, both for meetings and for the development of virtual courses.

The meeting was attended by the technical team of the Nodes of Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Cuba, Peru and CIESS as well as the technical team of Regional CVSP.

The main objective of these meetings is to monitor compliance with agreements reached at the team meeting held at NLM in December last year.

Between 24 and 26 February, took place in El Salvador, Reunion General and academic coordinator of the virtual courses in the Virtual Campus of Public Health (VCPH). The main objectives of this meeting were to exchange experiences on the development of courses in 2009 and analyze the main recommendations for improving future courses.

This event was attended by the general coordinator of the virtual courses starting this year and all of them academic coordinators, both of 2009 as the next to begin in 2010.

During the days 22 and 23 February 2010, was developed in El Salvador Workshop Virtual Course Evaluation Essential Public Health Functions (EPHF) with the aim of evaluating the learning process and results of the first version of the course.

This workshop was attended by most of the tutors of the course, some outstanding students and management of the Virtual Campus of Public Health (VCPH). Its inauguration was attended by the Minister of Health of El Salvador, Dr. Maria Isabel Rodriguez, as well as representatives from the offices of PAHO / WHO, Washington, DC

The National School of Public Health at the Medical University of Havana, Cuba, offers the Diploma "Managing for health promotion, with a humanist approach, based on the theories, concepts and methods from different areas of scientific knowledge.

To encourage an open and motivating the deployment on the experiences and initiatives of the labor force in promoting health through the exchange of learning and networking.

OBJECTIVES

Diploma graduates will:

With the participation of its member institutions met Node Cuba during the 11th and 12th of February.

This meeting was the opening of the DRCs Pastor Castell - Serrate Florit who emphasized the importance of these meetings and the high commitment of the institutions in the development of all activities of the Campus.

Calendar is now available courses for 2010.

These courses require registration and are organized by PAHO representations in the region.

March.

• Leaders in International Health Program "Edmundo Granda Ugalde"

April.

The Virtual Campus of Public Health of PAHO in its efforts to provide improvements in the development of courses for this year has developed a new format for the Program Familiarization with the various tools that the classroom gives both pupils and tutors .

With this new format, users can access all the necessary information through easy instructions with the help of images and a new navigation system makes users better understand the operation of the forums, chat, and Elluminate overview of all available tools in the classroom and that courses can be developed more smoothly.

It began during the month of February the familiarization phase of the course "Management of Health Programs and Services for the Elderly". This is the second version of this specialization that has had excellent results in its first version made in 2009.

This course had its first Elluminate session on 4 February addressed to the familiarization of students and tutors with the tools available in the classroom and especially in using Elluminate.

Panama, 30 January 2010. In order to check the Biennial Work Plan 2010 - 2011 and responsibilities for monitoring the monitoring indicators, the Regional Rights Resource Team of PAHO / WHO met in Panama City from 26 to 29 January.

Message from Dr. Mirta Roses, Director of the Pan American Health Organization

With very satisfactory results developed between 7 and 9 December at the site of BIREME, Sao Paulo, the Workshop for Open Educational Resource Network (Red REA / ERO) by its initials in Spanish and English respectively.

The workshop was attended by representatives of countries Nodes of the Network of Campus Virtual Public Health (VCPH), Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Mexico, Peru, the team of Regional and VCPH BIREME. Also attended by a representative of Paraguay prepares to have its Node Campus in 2010.

Last Friday, 11 December at PAHO headquarters in Washington DC. activity was performed by Dr. Pedro Brito farewell after 21 years who retires from the organization.

It was present Director Dr. Mirta Roses, the Assistant Director Dr. Socorro Gross, and Dr. Jose Luis Di Fabio, new director of HSS (acting).

With results so far very positive, has been operating since December 6 at the headquarters of BIREME, Sao Paulo, the Workshop for Open Educational Resource (Network REA / OER) by its initials in Spanish and English respectively.

Workshop Agenda

On days 7, 8 and 9 December 2009, will be held at the headquarters of BIREME, Sao Paulo, Brazil; the Workshop for Open Educational Resource Network (Red REA / OER) by its initials in Spanish and English respectively.

On this workshop will assist those responsible for the care to the repository and the portal VCPH Nodes of each of the countries belonging to the Network Virtual Campus of Public Health.

The objectives of this workshop will be focused on:

It is available the certificate of participation for self-learning course on "Influenza A H1/N1" in the version in Spanish and has free access to the Virtual Campus of Public Health.

This course until the time has benefited 474 students of which 156 have completed the certificate and will receive their final evaluation.

Congratulations!!!

To create an educational module, able to face next year’s challenges, the “Edmundo Granda Ugarte” International Health Leader’s Program (IHLP) will gather Academy representatives, Panamerican Health Organization’s (PAHO / WHO) officials and participants of the Cohort 2009 initiative, in order to work together in a surveillance proposal for the Program, considering more complex contexts each year and PAHO Country Offices’ involvement as learning environments.

To rethink Health, from an International Health perspective, was the challenge that more than thirty ibero-american experts and officers from the Pan-American Health Organization (PAHO/WHO) took in the city of Lima, these past 8, 9 and 10 October 2009.

On 8-9 October, 2009 a workshop was held in Kingston, Jamaica to commence the development of an online module on Chronic Diseases and Trade, which will be used for the Leaders in International Health Program Edmundo Granda Ugalde (LIHP) 2010.

The Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) will conduct the second workshop "Towards a new conceptual model building international Health". This workshop will be held in Lima, Peru from 28 to 30 October 2009.

Concluded with very satisfactory results in Panama City face week (12-16 October 2009) First Virtual Course Management Mental Health Services, cosponsored by the National Institute of Mental Health of Panama (INSAM), the University Leon de Nicaragua, CAMH Canada and the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO).

The 6th Meeting of the Steering Committee Meeting  VCPH Node Mexico took place between 1 and 2 October 2009, in the city of Guadalajara in the facilities of the University Center on Health Sciences at the University of Guadalajara, Mexico.

This is the third time this year, in which all institutions of Node Mexico have met in person.

During this meeting to reach agreements that help development and growth of Mexico Node as:

The Pan American Health Organization (PAHO / WHO) recognizes that health systems of the XXI century must confront new challenges in achieving the goals of national and international health to a globalized world. The Health Agenda for the Americas 2008-2017 sets an ambitious set of priorities and commitments which require intersectoral and international action for achieving an equitable and inclusive

On 9-10 September, 2009 a workshop was held in Kingston, Jamaica to commence the adaptation process of the Skills Enhancement for Public Health Program to a Caribbean context.

The Skills Enhancement for Public Health Program is a highly regarded, interactive, online course that was originally developed by the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) to increase the skills of health professionals across Canada.

Is now open the call to virtual course "Practical approach of the rational use of antimicrobials in the community."

This course is offered in both, Spanish language, and English, with a difference of days to start. This is a fundamentally selflearning course, but also has tutorials.

Validation Workshop Approach to Education Virtual Campus of Public Health (CVSP) was held in Buenos Aires, Argentina, between 10 and 11 August this year in order to validate and enrich the educational approach through the comments put participants perform.