Terms and conditions of the website and mobile application for the Virtual Campus for Public Health of the Pan American Health Organization

By using the VCPH Platform and its materials, the user agrees to comply, among others, with the following obligations:

• The user must acknowledge the credits of the work in the manner specified by PAHO (but not in a way that suggests association, affiliation, sponsorship, or endorsement);
• The user may not use any material for promotional or advertising purposes;
• If the user modifies the materials or creates a derivative work based on them, it may only be distributed under the same terms that govern this license.

Access the full text of the license http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/igo/deed.en

The PAHO name, acronym, and/or logo, as well as its trademarks, are protected by international law. Except for purposes of author attribution required under the Creative Commons CC BY-NC 3.0 license, these may not be used without prior express written authorization from PAHO. Likewise, the PAHO name, acronym, logo, and/or trademarks may not be used for promotional purposes or in a manner that implies, suggests, or could be interpreted as association, affiliation, sponsorship, or endorsement by PAHO.

The materials, data, information, and documents published on the VCPH Platform or sent through it are provided without any type of explicit or implicit guarantee. PAHO does not offer guarantees, nor is it responsible for the accuracy or truthfulness of the information or materials provided.

Under no circumstance will the Organization be liable for losses, damages, and/or harm that may be allegedly derived from the use of the VCPH Platform or the materials contained therein, even in cases of inappropriate, improper, or fraudulent use. Likewise, it shall not be liable for the accuracy, availability, or truthfulness of the information contained therein. The user must use the VCPH Platform at their own cost and risk. In no case will PAHO be liable for losses and/or harm, even when prior notice could have been given concerning them.

PAHO reserves the right to remove any material made available to the public through the VCPH Platform, with or without prior notice. The use of country or territorial designations must not be regarded as indicative of PAHO's position in regard to the legal status of any country or territory, its authorities and institutions, or the recognition of any border.

PAHO does not offer guarantees of any kind concerning the materials available on the VCPH Platform and will not be liable for any computer-virus infection or any other program that may affect the functioning of computers or systems of the user or third parties.

Some of the materials that the user can access through the VCPH Platform may belong to third parties; PAHO does not guarantee their ownership and will not be responsible to the user or third parties for any claim deriving from their use. It is possible that the site or the materials may contain links to external sites not managed by PAHO. Such links are included for reference purposes and their inclusion does not imply PAHO’S approval, support, or endorsement. PAHO assumes no responsibility for the information contained on such external sites.

Use of the VCPH Platform implies the user’s express acceptance of the obligation to indemnify PAHO and its affiliates for any action, claim of damages, loss, and/or expenditure (including attorney fees) that may derive from such use.

The contents, materials, courses, documents, publications, and any other information available on the Virtual Campus for Public Health Platform are for educational, informational, and public health training purposes only. In no case do they constitute medical, clinical, legal, administrative, or any other type of advice, nor should they be considered as such.

PAHO does not guarantee that the information is suitable for particular or specific situations, and is not responsible for decisions, actions, or omissions made by users or third parties based on such contents. The use of the information contained in the VCPH Platform is entirely and exclusively the responsibility of the user.
Users are advised to consult qualified professionals, competent authorities, or specialized institutions before making any decision or action based, in whole or in part, on the VCPH contents.

PAHO shall not be liable for delays, interruptions, or failures in the operation of the VCPH Platform caused by circumstances beyond its control, including, without limitation, force majeure, massive technical failures, armed conflicts, or health crises.

The use of the PAHO Virtual Campus application is governed by the Terms and Conditions set forth in this document. The application, developed by PAHO and subject to updates in later versions, is available for free download in mobile application stores under the name PAHO Virtual Campus. By using the application, the user agrees to comply with these terms of use and the established conditions.

PAHO may offer discussion forums or other means of communication through the VCPH Platform. The user, on making use of these instruments, agrees not to:

• Slander, injure, harass, threaten, or engage in any other conduct that violates others’ rights;
• Circulate, publish, distribute, or disseminate materials that are libelous, obscene, indecent, unlawful, or immoral;
• Upload to the VCPH Platform or attach to a message files that contain computer programs or other materials protected by intellectual property laws (or by rights of privacy and publicity), without having proper authorization;
• Fail to include the reference to the author or legal notices; to deliberately misstate the origin of, or present as one’s own, computer programs or other materials contained in a file uploaded to the VCPH Platform; or
• Announce goods or services or offer them for sale; conduct or promote surveys, competitions, or chain letters; or download from a forum a file posted by another user which the user knows, or reasonably should know, cannot be legally distributed in that manner.

The user recognizes that all discussion forums constitute a means of public, rather than private, communication. Furthermore, the user recognizes that the dialogues and material published on the VCPH Platform do not have PAHO’s backing and will not be considered as revised, examined, or approved by PAHO.

It is noted that the VCPH is a PAHO technical cooperation strategy and that the certificates issued by the VCPH do not constitute, in any case, a recognition of academic credits.

In each course, participants who satisfactorily meet the academic requirements and complete the VCPH survey will be able to download the certificate of participation and approval issued by the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO)/World Health Organization (WHO). After meeting the mentioned requirements, the course certificate is automatically enabled for download.

The certificates can be verified on the VCPH website, and their data corresponds to the information provided by the user at the time of enrollment in the course. The user is responsible for carefully reading the information and, if necessary, editing their personal data.

The VCPH, as a PAHO technical cooperation strategy, is committed to ensuring the excellence and quality of its training programs, and to preserving the integrity of learning. If questions arise, it is recommended to consult the "Help Desk," or with the tutors or course coordination.

As a participant in the VCPH courses, the user must:

• Answer homework, quizzes, and exams independently, without resorting to artificial intelligence or other automated tools, except in tasks where collaborative work or the use of artificial intelligence is explicitly allowed, and with the responsibility to cite the sources used and not infringe copyright and intellectual property rights;
• Not share homework, quiz answers, and exams with other participants, unless this is indicated by the teaching team.
• Not plagiarize. For the purposes of these Terms and Conditions, plagiarism is understood as copying words, ideas, or material from another person without listing credits or authorship.
• The disclosure of evaluation results from the VCPH courses on social media, digital platforms, or any means of public communication is prohibited; or
• Using automated tools, data mining software, bots, or any other mechanism that interacts with the VCPH Platform without the express authorization from PAHO is prohibited.

PAHO reserves the right to revoke or invalidate a certificate issued at any time, or to deny a user access to the VCPH Platform, in case errors, inconsistencies, misuse, identity theft, non-compliance with requirements, or any other action that contravenes the Terms and Conditions of the VCPH Platform is detected.

PAHO will make an effort to prevent activities on its site that are unlawful and contrary to the Terms and Conditions established on the VCPH Platform. Nevertheless, if you believe that an item of information contained on the VCPH Platform or its materials may be contravening your rights or those of third parties, including, without limitation, intellectual property rights, you must contact PAHO by sending a detailed description of the alleged violation to the following address: cvsp@paho.org

Your privacy on the Internet is of utmost importance to PAHO. This privacy statement describes PAHO’S policy regarding the gathering and sharing of information from individuals who consult the VCPH Platform. The same statement applies to all PAHO sites. The VCPH Platform specifically collects the following types of information:

• Normal website usage;
• Gathering information that allows identifying the person.

If you register to enroll in a course or receive a newsletter, you will be asked to provide certain personal information, such as: your name and surname, country of residence, email address, gender, health center, educational level, profession, workplace, position, if you wish to receive updates from the VCPH. This information is collected only with your knowledge and permission, and is kept in various VCPH databases and mailing lists.

The information gathered during the general registration of the domain "campusvirtual.paho.org" is used to analyze trends and site usage, and to improve the usefulness of the site.

By accessing the VCPH Platform, you agree that:

• Only authorized users may access the VCPH Platform and accounts are nominative;
• You will notify the VCPH if you become aware of any unauthorized use of your account;
• You will not use the VCPH Platform in any way that is illegal, fraudulent, or harmful, or in connection with any unlawful, illegal, fraudulent, or harmful purpose or activity;
• You will not bypass, disable, or interfere in any other way with the security-related features of the VCPH Platform, including features that prevent or restrict the use or copying of any content or impose limitations on the use of the site and/or the content included therein;
• You will not upload or transmit (or attempt to upload or transmit) viruses, trojan horses, or other material that interferes with any other party's uninterrupted use of the VCPH Platform, or that modifies, degrades, disrupts, alters, or interferes with the use of the features, operation, or maintenance of the VCPH Platform;
• The violation, or reasonable suspicion of violation of these terms of use, may result in a range of actions including formal warnings, suspensions, blocked access, or expulsion from the VCPH Platform by PAHO.

What happens if I don’t want to provide personal information?

Providing personal information on the VCPH Platform is optional. If you do not provide personal information, you can use the VCPH Platform, but you will not be able to enroll in courses or receive newsletters.

Option to modify the information or request its deletion

At any time, you can modify your information or request that it be deleted: to do this, you must log back into the website where you first entered the information and contact the VCPH Help Desk. https://campus.paho.org/en/contact

Security

All PAHO employees or their contractors who have access to, and are associated with the processing of personal data, are obliged to respect the confidentiality of official matters, including personal data.

The VCPH Platform contains links to external sites outside the domain "campus.paho.org." The VCPH is not responsible for the privacy practices or content of such sites.

Notification of changes

Any changes to the privacy policy will be published on the VCPH homepage at https://campus.paho.org/

Contact

For questions or inquiries regarding the privacy policy, please contact us by sending a message through the VCPH Help Desk at https://campus.paho.org/en/contact

*Cookies: A cookie is a small amount of data that is sent from a web server to your browser. It is normally used to assign a unique identification to your computer and securely store information such as user IDs, passwords, preferences, and electronic profiles. It is stored on the hard drive of your computer. You can choose not to have PAHO’s VCPH cookies from being installed by changing your browser settings. Different websites can send their own cookies to your computer. To protect your privacy, the browser only allows a website to access its own cookies and does not allow access to those installed by other sites.

Personal data protection on the Internet is of utmost importance to the Virtual Campus for Public Health. These Terms and Conditions constitute the personal data protection policy of the VCPH Platform and are complemented by the PAHO Personal Data Protection Policy (the "Policy").

The Policy establishes the rules and principles relating to the processing of individuals' personal data, covering their collection, analysis, publication, and dissemination, including sensitive data and data from vulnerable groups (such as children). It is based on the regulatory evolution in the field of data protection, as well as the Personal Data Protection and Privacy Principles of the United Nations (“UN”) Privacy Policy Group (“PPG”) adopted in September 2018 and endorsed by the High-Level Committee of Management ("HLCM") in October 2018, and should be read in conjunction with other existing internal policies and procedures of PAHO for its proper implementation, supervision, and accountability. In addition, the Policy is subject to periodic reviews, and the capitalized terms have the meanings ascribed to them in the corresponding section.

We highlight the actions of the VCPH that follow:

The VCPH collects and processes information associated with a person such as personal data that includes biographical data, such as name, gender, date of birth, country of origin, country of residence, individual registration number, and occupation, but not biometric data, such as a photographs.

When personal data is collected through third-party web-based applications, the aforementioned information may be provided through the terms of use or the privacy policy corresponding to the website in question.

Processing personal data is necessary to perform tasks that are in the public interest or to exercise PAHO’s public health mandate. The VCPH publishes anonymized reports, and when individuals register or create an account, they provide personal data and agree to do so.

Specification and limitation of purpose

The processing of personal data must be relevant and limited to what is strictly necessary to fulfill the specific purpose for which such data is collected, which will be determined before any processing begins. PAHO may also process personal data for purposes other than those specified at the time of collection, as long as it is done for statistical, historical, or scientific purposes.

Personal data will be processed in a manner that ensures their adequate confidentiality. In addition, they will be classified based on a sensitivity assessment, in accordance with the PAHO Information Classification Policy.

Read the full document on the PAHO website PAHO Personal Data Protection Policy PAHO Personal Data Protection Policy.

Nothing set forth herein will constitute or be interpreted as a waiver, express or tacit, of the privileges, immunities, and exemptions that PAHO enjoys in conformity with international law, treaties or international agreements, or the legislation of its Member States.

By using the VCPH Platform, the user recognizes that PAHO enjoys immunities under international law and agrees not to initiate any legal action against PAHO in national courts, expressly waiving any rights in this regard.

Any dispute, controversy, or complaint that may arise or be derived from the use of the site, the application, or its materials shall be resolved in an amicable manner between PAHO and the user. Unless disputes or controversies are resolved in an amicable manner within sixty (60) days after one of the parties receives the other’s request to attempt to reach an amicable resolution, such dispute, controversy, or claim will be sent by either of the parties to arbitration in accordance with the Arbitration Rules of the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) in effect. The arbitral tribunal will not be authorized to impose punitive damages. Any arbitral award made in virtue of the aforementioned arbitration will be considered the final decision on the dispute, controversy, or claim, and shall be binding on the parties.