Workshop Training Course Tutors for virtual essential public health functionsDuring the 21 to April 23, was held in Bogota, Colombia, the training workshop to tutors in preparation for the Virtual Course of Essential Public Health Functions, scheduled to start next May 18. This course will last for 180 hours and has been constructed from the results of the first experiment conducted in English with the World Bank Institute and PAHO.

This new proposal has involved the collaboration of international experts convened by PAHO around VCPH node of Colombia, including the National School of Public Health at the University of Antioquia and the Faculty of Medicine of the Universidad de La Sabana, and was based on the Spanish translation and adaptation by the National School of Public Health (NSPH) from Cuba. It was also regarded as inputs of the educational approach of the Virtual Campus Health.

The new course, located in the Regional VCPH, requires for its implementation of a number of qualified tutors who have been part of group review and adaptation of content of the course. Participatory mode of course requires a good coordination of the educational work, teaching arrangements between tutors and efficient tool that offers the learning platform.

The objectives of the workshop included: to understand the whole Virtual proposed course and each of the functions with their respective lectures, forums and exercises, to analyze their virtual roles as mentors, to analyze the mechanisms of evaluation, navigate the course and familiarize themselves with installed each tool to be used.

This workshop will be chaired by Dr. José Ruales, regional adviser on health systems in PAHO, with the participation of tutors from Cuba, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru, as well as the coordinators of the course of the VCPH Node and Colombia Resources project Human PAHO.