Background:
Cardiovascular disease continues to be the leading cause of premature morbidity and mortality globally. According to the 2022 Global Burden of Disease Report, high systolic blood pressure remains the leading modifiable risk factor globally for attributable premature cardiovascular deaths, accounting for 10.8 million deaths and 11.3 million deaths overall in 2021 and has been particularly linked to ischemic heart disease and stroke-related deaths. Cardiovascular disease is also the leading cause of premature morbidity and mortality in the Americas Region.

Improvement in blood pressure control has occurred. However, part of the improvement seen in the last two decades has slowed significantly and, in some cases, even reversed. 

The Pan American Health Organization through HEARTS in the Americas Initiative supports countries to develop their hypertension treatment protocols based on the latest 2021 WHO Guideline for the pharmacological treatment of hypertension in adults. Likewise, the initiative emphasizes the team care approach and supports the training and education of all members of the primary healthcare team, including physicians, nurses, or non-physician health workers (NPHW), to increase control of hypertension in PHC centers and to use antihypertension medication properly and effectively.

This virtual course aims to support clinicians using properly blood pressure medications, highlighting the newest WHO recommendations and the possible side effects of the main group of antihypertensive drugs.

Intended audience:
This course is intended for primary healthcare teams members responsible for prescribing, titrating, and following up hypertensive patients. Primary care physicians, nurses, nurse assistants, nurse practitioners, allied health professionals, and medical, nurses and allied health science students will benefit from taking this course. In addition, teachers of health science programs, which include medicine and nursing, are recommended to embed the course, and make it available for their students or to incorporate it into their curriculum.

Course format:
The course is placed on the platform of the Virtual Campus for Public Health of PAHO/WHO available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, in a self-administered modality according to the participant’s own pace, individually or as part of professional programs and/or educational meetings in the workplace. 

The course issues a certificate with 16 academic hours that can be downloaded automatically once the students have met the course completion requirements, including passing the evaluation with 70% or more and completing the VCPH Quality Survey.

General objectives:

1. To understand which common side effects of BP medications are dose-related and can be minimized with dose adjustment.
2. To understand which common side effects of BP medications, require medication discontinuation.
3. To understand how to deal with basic lab abnormalities including hyponatremia, hyperkalemia, hyperuricemia, and renal insufficiency.
4. To increase comfort level with use of spironolactone.

General skills:
At the end of this course, health care providers who titrate BP medications (physicians, pharmacists, and nurses) should be able to more comfortably prescribe and titrate thiazide-type diuretics, ACEIs, ARBs, and CCBs, and deal with common side effects and lab abnormalities.  This will facilitate optimal use of preferred BP medication protocols.

Rationale

Noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) are the world’s leading cause of death and disability. They include cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and chronic lung disease, many of which can be prevented by reducing risk factors such as tobacco and alcohol consumption, physical inactivity, and unhealthy eating.

NCDs are the leading cause of death in the Region of the Americas. In 2021, they were responsible for six million deaths, 38% of them premature, occurring in people between 30 and 70 years of age. Following the outbreak of COVID-19, there was a change in death distribution among the leading causes of mortality, with more deaths attributed to communicable diseases. It is not known how many COVID-19 deaths occurred in people with NCDs, but it is likely that many of these deaths were associated with underlying NCDs. In 2021, NCDs accounted for 65% of all deaths, down from 80% in 2019, but remained the leading cause of death in the Americas. Despite this shift in death distribution, NCD mortality rates increased by 1.8% between 2019 and 2021. 

An estimated one in four adults in the Americas lives with at least one NCD, highlighting the need to strengthen primary care services. In line with Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 3—which aims to reduce premature mortality from NCDs by one-third—it is crucial to improve the prevention, treatment, and management of these diseases in primary care.

To address this challenge, in 2023 PAHO launched the Better Care for NCDs Initiative (2023-2030), with the aim of scaling up equitable access to integrated services in primary health care (PHC).

Countries in the Region must bolster the ongoing training of their health teams, adapting to different national and local contexts. The Virtual Campus for Public Health (VCPH) promotes permanent education in health as a work-based process aimed at improving care for the population.

This course is part of the Initiative’s training itinerary and supports its implementation. It provides decision-makers and health teams with a comprehensive view of the epidemiological context, gaps in service quality and availability, and challenges to achieving better care for NCDs in PHC.

Objective

To present and analyze the main dimensions and strategic areas of PAHO’s Better Care for NCDs Initiative so that decision-makers and health teams can identify challenges and define the actions needed to strengthen NCD care in PHC, based on a preliminary analysis of their local situation.

Learning objectives

By the end of the course, participants will be expected to: 

1. Understand the concept and epidemiological context of NCDs and their comorbidities from a life course approach.
2. Understand the impact of social determinants of health on the development of NCDs and their risk factors.
3. Recognize the Initiative’s potential based on its objectives, recommended essential services, and expected impact.
4. Understand the opportunities for integrating NCD care into PHC based on the Operational Framework for PHC.
5. Understand the Initiative’s strategic areas and actions.
6. Recognize how to use the rapid assessment instrument as a local planning tool.
7. Identify the importance of providing accessible and equitable health services for NCD care through territorial planning and management, strengthening health promotion and the SDH approach, community engagement, intersectoral action, and telemedicine solutions.
8. Understand approaches to promote quality and safety in recommended essential NCD services.
9. Identify the importance of having competent interprofessional teams for comprehensive and integrated NCD care.
10. Recognize the need for planning, forecasting, provision, and quality assurance of NCD medicines and diagnostic tools.
11. Identify the importance of monitoring and evaluating lines of care for people with NCDs and the strategy’s key indicators.

Competencies

By the end of the course, participants will be expected to: 

• Develop a critical view of their local context, enabling the identification of available and necessary resources and actions, as well as the main challenges for better NCD care in PHC.
• Identify the importance of providing accessible health services for NCD care through territorial planning and management, addressing social determinants, identifying access barriers associated with both supply and demand, intercultural community engagement, and identifying vulnerable populations and territories, and telemedicine solutions.
• Recognize the Initiative as an opportunity to guide the integration of NCD care into PHC. 

Target audience 

• Primary healthcare teams, including community workers.
• Health services and NCD program managers.

Workload and contact hours

Total number of hours: 15

Self-administered, asynchronous.

Teaching strategies

Course Modality and Technology Platforms: self-administered, using the PAHO/WHO Virtual Campus for Public Health virtual educational platform. 

Flexible Lessons and Teaching Resources: Lessons will be presented using a variety of teaching resources and tools on the virtual platform. 

Course structure

Module 1: Presenting the Better Care for NCDs Initiative and its integration into PHC.

Topics:

• Definition and epidemiological context of NCDs.
• Life course, multimorbidity, and risk factors.
• Social determinants of health, their impact on NCDs, and their risk factors.
• Gaps and inequities in access to services.
• Presenting the Initiative: objectives, essential services, and challenges.
• Integrating NCD care into PHC: approach and benefits.

Module 2: Implementation – Strategic Areas 1, 2, and 3

Topics: Implementing the Initiative: strategic areas and actions (Part 1).

• Strategic Line 1: Needs assessment and operational planning. Telehealth and governance.
• Strategic Line 2: Community outreach and engagement in NCD services, with a focus on equity.
• Strategic Line 3: Normative guidance and improving quality of care. Evidence, clinical guidelines, and quality of care for risk factors, cardiovascular disease, hypertension, diabetes, asthma, COPD, and cancer.

Module 3: Implementation – Strategic Areas 4, 5, and 6

Topics: Implementing the Initiative: strategic areas and actions (Part 2).

• Strategic Line 4: Developing interprofessional health teams in PHC. Training itinerary.
• Strategic Line 5: Scaling up access to medicines and technologies. Pharmaceutical services and PAHO Strategic Fund.
• Strategic Line 6: NCD monitoring and follow-up based on key indicators.

Foundation: 

Cardiovascular disease (CVD), with about 2.2 million deaths annually, is the leading cause of death in all countries of the Americas. CVD is the leading cause of premature mortality and disability, reducing the life expectancy of the population, and increasing inequities. In addition, the reduction in cardiovascular mortality has slowed down in the last decade (2010-2019), putting at risk the regional goal of reducing premature mortality from noncommunicable diseases by 30% by 2030. 

Hypertension (≥ 140/90 mm Hg) affects more than one-third of adults in this region and is the main modifiable risk factor for CVD. However, despite the efforts made, approximately 30% of people with hypertension are unaware of their condition, and only half of those who receive treatment achieve adequate control of their blood pressure. As a result, only about 37% of people with hypertension in the region manage to keep their blood pressure under control. These figures show significant gaps in access, coverage, and quality of health services, particularly in timely diagnosis and effective treatment, highlighting the limitations of the current model of health care. 

What factors are limiting the effective control of hypertension in the health systems of the Region? How can primary care teams overcome current barriers and achieve better results? 

HEARTS in the Americas, the regional adaptation of the World Health Organization's (WHO) Global HEARTS initiative, seeks to transform hypertension care and cardiovascular risk management through a continuous quality improvement approach in primary health care (PHC). This multicomponent, evidence-based program uses the clinical management of hypertension as a starting point to integrate and strengthen prevention and treatment of cardiovascular, renal, and metabolic diseases, which represent the main causes of disease burden in the region. 

HEARTS is fully aligned with PAHO's strategy "Better Care for Noncommunicable Diseases: Accelerating Action in PHC" and acts as its spearhead to improve the quality of care for these conditions in the region's health systems. It is estimated that a 1% increase in population hypertension control in the region can reduce CVD mortality by about 3% per 100,000 people, especially due to ischemic heart disease and stroke. If Latin America and the Caribbean were to increase the level of population control of high blood pressure to 50%, around 500,000 premature deaths could be avoided in a period of five years. And if cardiovascular risk were addressed in an integrated way, as HEARTS proposes, the impact would be even greater, also reducing complications related to diabetes and chronic kidney disease. 

The HEARTS quality improvement methodology guides the systematic implementation of the Drivers for Hypertension Control and Cardiovascular Risk Management, reducing gaps in hypertension coverage and control and reducing associated mortality. Central to this process is the HEARTS Clinical Pathway, a standardized, evidence-based tool designed to guide the comprehensive management of hypertension and cardiovascular risk in primary care settings, simplifying decision-making and facilitating the delivery of quality care. 

HEARTS conceives quality monitoring and evaluation as a continuous process of collective learning and strengthening of organizational commitment. This non-punitive process is aimed at identifying barriers in implementation and developing innovative, effective and sustainable local solutions that improve both processes and health outcomes. The evaluation for quality improvement in HEARTS focuses on a systematic and standardized assessment of four fundamental domains: fidelity, feasibility, acceptability, and effectiveness of the interventions promoted by the program.

General objective: 

Strengthen the competencies of primary care teams to systematically implement the HEARTS program in the Americas, applying its methodology of continuous quality improvement and integrating clinical and management tools, with the purpose of closing gaps in the care and control of hypertension and cardiovascular risk, and contributing to the reduction of premature mortality from noncommunicable diseases in line with the goal established for 2030. 

General Competencies: 

• To analyze the impact of cardiovascular diseases in the region of the Americas, understanding hypertension as the main modifiable risk factor and applying the concept of the "Treatment Cascade" to identify gaps in care and accelerate the implementation of the quality standards of the HEARTS program in primary health care.
• Introduce the HEARTS in the Americas initiative, understanding its vision, mission, and programmatic strategies to facilitate the transition to a model of continuous quality improvement in primary care centers and its effective integration into health systems.
• Recognize and apply the Drivers and essential clinical tools of the HEARTS program, operationalized in primary care through the Clinical Pathway, to optimize the management of hypertension and cardiovascular risk.
• Implement the HEARTS continuous quality improvement methodology, designing and implementing improvement cycles that include: the development of an implementation plan; the systematic integration of HEARTS drivers into clinical and management processes; the documentation of improvements; the conduct performance review meetings; continuous feedback to health teams; and the establishment of effective communication mechanisms.
• Use monitoring and evaluation tools for continuous improvement, analyzing the fidelity, feasibility, acceptability, and effectiveness of the interventions proposed by the HEARTS program, and developing improvement plans that contribute to optimizing the performance of primary care centers in the population control of hypertension and cardiovascular risk.

Admission profile: 

This course is aimed at professionals and workers in the health sector at any level of the system (macro, meso or micro) who wish to contribute from their role to the reduction of preventable mortality and the alleviation of individual and collective suffering caused by avoidable morbidity and mortality due to cardiovascular conditions. It is especially aimed at those who work in primary health care and seek to improve the quality of services in the control of hypertension and the management of cardiovascular risk. No previous experience in quality improvement methodologies is required.

Course Format: 

The course is available on the PAHO/WHO Virtual Campus for Public Health (VCPH) platform, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. As it is a self-study course, participants can regulate their times and moments of dedication. 

The course issues a certificate with 8 hours that can be automatically downloaded once participants have met the course completion requirements, including passing the assessment of each module with 80% or more and completing the VCPH Quality Survey.

Modules:

• Module 1. The central role of hypertension control in advancing in the reduction of mortality from cardiovascular diseases in the region of the Americas.
• Module 2. HEARTS Continuous Quality Improvement Methodology for Primary Care Settings.
• Module 3. Essential clinical tools for quality improvement.
• Module 4. Implementation of the HEARTS quality improvement methodology in primary care facilities.
• Module 5. Monitoring and evaluation of the implementation of HEARTS in primary care facilities.

Expected results: 

At the end of the course, and using the technical and methodological knowledge, as well as the clinical and management tools that HEARTS in the Americas makes available to countries, participants will be able to implement and evaluate effective interventions to improve the quality of care in their health centers. In this way, they will be able to contribute to the reduction of mortality and morbidity associated with hypertension and cardiovascular diseases in the region of the Americas.

Assessment and certification: 

This course will provide participants with the tools needed to drive meaningful changes in cardiovascular health care in each country implementing the HEARTS program, ensuring comprehensive, equitable, and sustainable management of hypertension and cardiovascular risk in communities. 

Participants must pass the evaluation corresponding to each module (5 in total). These assessments are designed to offer participants multiple opportunities and consist of five multiple-choice questions.

Participants who meet the course requirements and obtain the minimum passing grade of 80% will be able to download their certificate, issued by the Pan American Health Organization/World Health Organization (PAHO/WHO).

COURSE DESCRIPTION
The course "Introduction to social marketing for public health" is the first of 5 courses that are part of the "Social Marketing Program for Public Health", developed by the Unit of Risk Factors and Nutrition of the Pan American Health Organization in collaboration with the University of South Florida. The program is sponsored by the American Heart Association and the Universal Health Coverage Partnership.

The introductory course addresses the essential theoretical aspects of social marketing and prepares you for the following program courses that aim to provide you with the skills you need to manage social marketing projects, identifying their stages, tasks, profiles involved, implementation times, resources, success indicators and results.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES
Upon completion of the introductory course, participants will be able to:

• Differentiate social marketing from other related disciplines
• Recognize the particular characteristics of social marketing
• Distinguish the steps that comprise the social marketing process
• Identify the tasks related to the initial planning and the development of the social marketing strategy
• Distinguish the elements of the marketing mix, or 4Ps (Product, Price, Place and Promotion)

PARTICIPANT PROFILE AND PREREQUISITES
This course is aimed at public health professionals from the Americas region who work in areas such as health promotion, chronic noncommunicable diseases, nutrition, smoking, harmful use of alcohol, among other areas that share the need to influence the people's behavior to improve their quality of life. It is taught free of charge for all students from the Virtual Campus of Public Health of the Pan American Health Organization.
 

COURSE STRUCTURE
The structure of the course is as follows:

Module 1:
Lesson 1: Basics of Social Marketing
Lesson 2: Initial planning
Lesson 3: Strategy elaboration
Lesson 4: Key Ideas and Next Steps

Module 2:
Case study: Promotion of breastfeeding
Case study: Promotion of physical activity
Case study: Promotion of healthy eating
Case Study: Prevention of Heart Disease
Social Marketing and the COVID-19 Pandemic

METHODOLOGY
In the design of the course we have combined passive learning resources, such as video review, with active learning resources, in which your participation and commitment are the basis of learning. The objective of the active learning resources is to reflect on the potential application of the theoretical content to the reality of your country through discussion forums that incorporate principles of social and collaborative learning.
 

Introduction
The Initial Planning in Social Marketing for Public Health course is the second of 5 courses that make up the Social Marketing for Public Health Program. This learning program aims to train public health professionals from the Americas region to implement social marketing programs, apply commercial marketing strategies in search of behavior change in the population, promote healthy habits, or prevent diseases.

The first course of the program, Introduction to Social Marketing for Public Health, addresses this discipline’s essential theoretical aspects and is a prerequisite for taking the rest of its courses.

In this course, entitled Initial Planning in Social Marketing for Public Health, you will learn how to formulate the health problem, select the specific behavioral approach, determine the target audience, and plan the formative research.

Learning objectives
Upon completing all the activities of the course, you will be able to:

• Formulate the statement of the problem you want to address through a social marketing intervention.
• Describe the main formative research methods available for social marketers.
• Identify the resources needed to conduct formative research.

Target audience and prerequisites
The Social Marketing for Public Health Program is aimed at public health professionals from the Latin American and the Caribbean region who work in areas such as health promotion, chronic noncommunicable diseases, nutrition, smoking, alcoholism, among other areas, that share the need to influence people’s behavior to improve their quality of life.

To access this course, participants should have completed the first course of the Program: Introduction to Social Marketing for Public Health, available here: https://bit.ly/PAHOVCSocialMarketingPublicHealth

Estimated duration of the course
We estimate that you should dedicate 3 hours to complete all the activities of the course, including the optional ones, which are indicated in the title of the resources.

Course modality
Self-paced without a tutor, with open registration and permanently available to all people interested in social marketing applied to public health. There is no deadline to complete this course in the self-paced without tutor modality. Participants must first complete the first course of the Program.

Course structure
Learning resources are organized as follows:

• Lesson 1: Definitions of Social Marketing
• Lesson 2: Statement of the Problem
• Lesson 3: Behavioral Focus
• Lesson 4: Audience Segmentation
• Lesson 5: Formative Research
• Lesson 6: Planning Formative Research
• Lesson 7: Strategy Development

INTRODUCTION
The course Developing a Social Marketing and Communication Strategy is the third of 5 courses that make up the Social Marketing for Public Health Program. This learning program aims to train public health professionals from the Americas region to implement social marketing programs, apply commercial marketing strategies in search of behavior change in the population, promote healthy habits, or prevent diseases.

The first course of the program, Introduction to Social Marketing for Public Health, addresses this discipline’s essential theoretical aspects and is a prerequisite for taking the rest of its courses. The second course of the program, Initial Planning in Social Marketing for Public Health, covers how to formulate the health problem, select the specific behavioral approach, determine the target audience, and plan the formative research. This third course will guide participants in the development of a strategy workbook and in the design of the promotion components of a social marketing strategy, including the creative brief, communication plan and creative concepts.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES
Upon completing all the activities of the course, you will be able to:

• Assemble research findings to identify, select and understand “audience insight”, to build a social marketing strategy workbook.
• Develop a creative brief.
• Define measurable communication goals and structure a communication plan.
• Define a creative concept.
• Plan concept testing and pre-testing activities.

TARGET AUDIENCE AND PREREQUISITES
The Social Marketing for Public Health Program is aimed at public health professionals from the Latin American and the Caribbean region who work in areas such as health promotion, chronic noncommunicable diseases, nutrition, smoking, alcoholism, among other areas, that share the need to influence people’s behavior to improve their quality of life. To access this course, participants should have completed the first course of the Program: Introduction to Social Marketing for Public Health, available here: https://bit.ly/PAHOVCSocialMarketingPublicHealth and the second course: Initial Planning in Social Marketing for Public Health, available here: https://bit.ly/PAHOVCPlanningSocialMarketingPublicHealth

ESTIMATED COURSE DURATION
We estimate that you should dedicate around 3 hours to complete all the activities of the course, including the optional ones, which are indicated in the title of the resources.

COURSE MODALITY
Self-paced without a tutor, with open registration and permanently available to all people interested in social marketing applied to public health. There is no deadline to complete this course in the self-paced without tutor modality. Participants must complete the first two courses of the Program to have access to this one.

COURSE STRUCTURE
Learning resources are organized as follows:

• Lesson 1: Assembly a social marketing strategy workbook
• Lesson 2: Audience insights and strategic decisions
• Lesson 3: Creative brief development
• Lesson 4: Communication plan
• Lesson 5: Creative concepts
• Lesson 6: Concept testing
• Lesson 7: Pre-testing and implementation

INTRODUCTION
The course Development and Implementation of a Social Marketing Program for Public Health is the fourth of 5 courses that make up the Social Marketing for Public Health Program. This learning program aims to train public health professionals from the Americas region to implement social marketing programs, apply commercial marketing strategies in search of behavior change in the population, promote healthy habits, or prevent diseases.

The first course of the program, Introduction to Social Marketing for Public Health, addresses this discipline's essential theoretical aspects and is a prerequisite for taking the rest of its courses. The second course of the program, Initial Planning in Social Marketing for Public Health, covers how to formulate the health problem, select the specific behavioral approach, determine the target audience, and plan the formative research. The third course, Developing a Social Marketing and Communication Strategy, guides participants in developing a strategy workbook and designing the promotion components of a social marketing strategy, including the creative brief, communication plan, and creative concepts.

This fourth course delves into how to get ready to launch a social marketing intervention from the development of the action plan, making considerations regarding staffing, costing, budgeting, up to how to address emerging challenges and seizing opportunities during the implementation of the program.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES
Upon completing all the activities of the course, you will be able to:

• Distinguish the key features of the implementation process in social marketing

TARGET AUDIENCE AND PREREQUISITES
The Social Marketing for Public Health Program is aimed at public health professionals from the Latin American and the Caribbean region who work in areas such as health promotion, chronic noncommunicable diseases, nutrition, smoking, alcoholism, among other areas, that share the need to influence people's behavior to improve their quality of life.

To access this course, participants should have completed the first course of the Program: Introduction to Social Marketing for Public Health, available here: https://bit.ly/PAHOVCSocialMarketingPublicHealth, the second course: Initial Planning in Social Marketing for Public Health, available here: https://bit.ly/PAHOVCPlanningSocialMarketingPublicHealth, and the third course: Developing a Social Marketing and Communication Strategy, available here: https://bit.ly/PAHOVC-DevelopSocialMarketingCommunicationStrategy

ESTIMATED COURSE DURATION
We estimate that you should dedicate around 2 hours to complete all the course activities, including the optional ones, which are indicated in the title of the resources.

COURSE MODALITY
Self-paced without a tutor, with open registration and permanently available to all people interested in social marketing applied to public health. There is no deadline to complete this course in the self-paced without tutor modality. Participants must complete the first three courses of the Program to have access to this one.

COURSE STRUCTURE
Learning resources are organized as follows:

• Lesson 1: Action plan
• Lesson 2: Preparing for launch
• Lesson 3: Implementing a quality program
• Lesson 4: Implementing a quality program: A case study

INTRODUCTION
The course Monitoring and evaluation of social marketing programs is the fifth of 5 courses that make up the Social Marketing for Public Health Program. This learning program aims to train public health professionals from the Americas region to implement social marketing programs, apply commercial marketing strategies in search of behavior change in the population, promote healthy habits, or prevent diseases.

The first course of the program, Introduction to Social Marketing for Public Health, addresses this discipline's essential theoretical aspects and is a prerequisite for taking the rest of its courses. The second course of the program, Initial Planning in Social Marketing for Public Health, covers how to formulate the health problem, select the specific behavioral approach, determine the target audience, and plan the formative research. The third course, Developing a Social Marketing and Communication Strategy, guides participants in developing a strategy workbook and designing the promotion components of a social marketing strategy, including the creative brief, communication plan, and creative concepts.

This fifth course focuses on the concepts of "monitoring" and "evaluation", their importance in the context of social marketing, the methodologies used for their development and how to disseminate the results and take advantage of the findings for the continuous improvement of the social marketing processes. To better understand it, we will provide you with some practical tools and examples of the use of these methodologies.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES
Upon completing all the activities of the course, you will be able to:

• Distinguish the key features of the implementation process in social marketing

TARGET AUDIENCE AND PREREQUISITES
The Social Marketing for Public Health Program is aimed at public health professionals from the Latin American and the Caribbean region who work in areas such as health promotion, chronic noncommunicable diseases, nutrition, smoking, alcoholism, among other areas, that share the need to influence people's behavior to improve their quality of life.

To access this course, participants should have completed the first course of the Program: Introduction to Social Marketing for Public Health, available here: https://bit.ly/PAHOVCSocialMarketingPublicHealth, the second course: Initial Planning in Social Marketing for Public Health, available here: https://bit.ly/PAHOVCPlanningSocialMarketingPublicHealth, the third course: Developing a Social Marketing and Communication Strategy, available here: https://bit.ly/PAHOVC-DevelopSocialMarketingCommunicationStrategy, and the fourth course: Development and Implementation of a Social Marketing Program for Public Health, available here: https://bit.ly/PAHOVC-Social-Marketing-Developm-Implementation

ESTIMATED COURSE DURATION
We estimate that you should dedicate around 2 hours to complete all the course activities, including the optional ones, which are indicated in the title of the resources.

COURSE MODALITY
Self-paced without a tutor, with open registration and permanently available to all people interested in social marketing applied to public health. There is no deadline to complete this course in the self-paced without tutor modality. Participants must complete the first four courses of the Program to have access to this one.

COURSE STRUCTURE
Learning resources are organized as follows:

• Lesson 1: Monitoring and evaluation
• Lesson 2: Evaluation methods
• Lesson 3: Dissemination
• Lesson 4: Case studies and tools for M&E

Introduction

The REPLACE TRANS FAT course it is a How-to Guide for landscape assessment and roadmap development for the elimination of trans fats. The World Health Organization (WHO) on 14 May 2018 launched the REPLACE initiative to eliminate industrially-produced trans fats by 2023 to reduce cardiovascular disease deaths, the world’s leading cause of death.

Elimination of industrially-produced trans-fatty acids (IP-TFA) from the food supply is one of the priority targets identified in the draft 13^th General Programme of Work, which will guide the work of the World Health Organization (WHO) in 2019-2023. By approving the Plan of Action for the Elimination of Industrially Produced Trans-Fatty Acids 2020-2025, Member States of the Pan American Health Organization also unanimously agreed to eliminate IP-TFA from the Region of the Americas by 2023.

Increased intake of TFA (>1% of total energy intake) is associated with increased risk of coronary heart disease (CHD) events and mortality. Globally more than 500,000 deaths in 2010 were attributed to increased intake of TFA. IP-TFA have no known health benefits and its elimination from the food supply is feasible and achievable. During the past decade, various policy actions have been implemented by countries aiming to restrict TFA content of food and reduce TFA intake in their populations, including mandatory and voluntary TFA labeling, reformulation, and national and local IP-TFA prohibitions. Several countries have in fact virtually eliminated industrially produced TFA from the food supply through the implementation of systematic policy actions and monitoring programs.

The REPLACE TRANS FAT course provides a strategic approach to eliminating industrially produced TFA from national food supplies, with the goal of global elimination by 2023.

Educational approach

The course is developed in the form of self-learning, using virtual teaching platforms of the VCPH, such as interactive PPTs and quizzes of multiple-choice (MCQs) and true/false questions.

Course purpose

The purpose of the course is to incorporate skills to develop and implement a strategic approach to eliminating industrially produced TFA from national food supplies.

Learning objectives

Main objective

The REPLACE TRANS FAT course aims to serve as a roadmap for countries to implement actions to reduce and eliminate IP-TFA and outlines strategic action areas to support the prompt, complete, and sustained elimination of IP-TFA from the food supply.

Specific objectives

• Understand and increase the competence in the harms of products containing TFA.
• Learn about the REPLACE package to eliminate industrially produced IP-TFA.
• Learn about the PAHO Plan of Action for the elimination of industrially produced TFA 2020-2025.
• Understand the steps in creating a strategic plan for the elimination of IP-TFA, including research, policies, legislation, awareness campaigns, etc.
• Identify and understand the barriers and limitations of creating a strategic plan.
• Identify the resources needed to develop a strategic plan for the elimination of TFAs.

Audience

This course is aimed to:

• PAHO personnel
• Country officers
• Public health professionals
• Policy-makers
• Advocates
• Food control or safety authorities
• Researchers and practitioners on nutrition or food safety.

Other audiences that may find the REPLACE course and accompanying web resources useful include civil society organizations, academic and research institutions, nutrition scientists and laboratories, and food industry associations and food companies.

Duration / Workload

The course is open and available in the PAHO/WHO Virtual Campus of Public Health (VCPH). As it is a self-learning course, the participants can regulate their times and moments of dedication. An estimated time of 60 to 90 minutes per module is considered, depending on the participant’s level of knowledge on TFAs. Therefore, when including an estimated time to complete the course modules and the corresponding evaluations, the course is assigned a total of 15 hours.

Course Structure

Countries in the Region of the Americas have been facing an increase in obesity and noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) associated with high mortality and morbidity rates. Both the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) and World Health Organization (WHO) have established plans of action—including PAHO’s Plan of Action for the Prevention of Obesity in Children and Adolescents and the WHO Acceleration Plan to Stop Obesity—to transform obesogenic environments through the use of a comprehensive set of regulatory policies. To advance these agendas, PAHO is implementing a multi-module virtual course that focuses on effective regulatory policies that can help halt the rise in obesity and diet-related NCDs. 

Course purpose

The course purpose of the course is to strengthen the learner’s capacity to design and advance effective regulatory policies that reduce the demand for and offer of ultra-processed and processed products to prevent obesity and diet-related NCDs in the Region of the Americas.  

Educational approach

The course uses virtual teaching platforms of the VCPH, is interactive and highly visual, and includes multimedia resources and formative quizzes such as multiple-choice questions. The course uses a self-learning and self-instructional method, allowing participants to access its content when they wish and advance through the course at their own pace. Therefore, an estimated time of 60 to 120 minutes per module is considered, depending on the participant’s level of knowledge on the different topics.   

Learning objectives

At the end of the course, the learner will:

• Be familiar with the WHO’s and PAHO’s Plans of Action to tackle obesity and NCDs.
• Have an increased understanding of how to design and advance the adoption, implementation, and monitoring of effective regulatory policies to prevent obesity and diet-related NCDs.
• Be familiar with key lessons from country cases with effective regulatory policies in place to prevent obesity and diet-related NCDs.
• Have an increased understanding of conflicts of interest and the significance of preventing and managing it for effective governance.
• Be familiar with PAHO/WHO tools to identify and support the prevention and management of conflicts of interest. 

Audience 

This course is aimed at policy makers, public health professionals, civil society organization representatives, public health nutrition advocates, such as researchers and practitioners, PAHO personnel and country and sub-regional officers. 

Course Structure 

INTRODUCTION
Welcome to the online course “Planning and Development of the Social Marketing Program for Public Health” developed by the Risk Factors and Nutrition Unit of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), in coordination with the University of South Florida (USF) WHO Collaborating Center on Social Marketing and Social Change. This learning program is funded by the American Heart Association and the Alliance for Universal Health Coverage.

DESCRIPTION OF THE COURSE AND THE SOCIAL MARKETING PROGRAM FOR PUBLIC HEALTH
The “Planning and Development of the Social Marketing Program for Public Health” course is a self-learning (self-paced) course that aims to train public health professionals from the Region of the Americas to implement social marketing programs, apply commercial marketing strategies to achieve behavior change in the population, promote healthy habits, or prevent diseases.

Upon completing the 4-module program, participants will be able to direct or supervise social marketing programs, make informed decisions, and apply a systematic 5-stage process that ranges from problem formulation to monitoring and evaluation of the plan.

In this course, organized in 4 modules, you will learn to identify and describe the health need and the target audience, develop a social marketing strategy, prepare its launch and, finally, to monitor and evaluate the program. You will also learn how to disseminate the results and take advantage of the findings for the continuous improvement of social marketing processes.

In the PAHO Virtual Campus for Public Health (VCPH), you will find multimedia lessons with exercises and an evaluation questionnaire at the end of each module, which you can access once you complete the lessons and that you must pass to obtain the course certificate.

The course modality is self-paced learning, which means that there are no tutors or set end dates, and therefore, you can access the content and complete the course at your own pace. Before you begin the course, you should complete the Introduction to Social Marketing for Public Health self-paced course, in which you will learn the basics of social marketing and how it can be applied in public health.

Once you join the course, we ask you to review the content of the first section called “General course information” where you will find all the guidance you need to successfully complete the course.

TARGET AUDIENCE AND PREREQUISITES
The “Planning and Development of the Social Marketing Program for Public Health” is aimed at public health professionals from the Latin American and the Caribbean region who work in areas such as health promotion, prevention and control of chronic noncommunicable diseases, promotion of healthy food and physical activity, tobacco control, alcohol consumption, among other areas, that share the need to influence people’s behavior to improve their quality of life. The course is provided free of charge to all students through the Virtual Campus for Public Health of the Pan American Health Organization.

To enroll in the Social Marketing for Public Health Program begin the course, you should complete the Introduction to Social Marketing for Public Health self-paced course.

ESTIMATED DURATION OF THE COURSE
To complete the course, you will need approximately 10 hours.

COURSE STRUCTURE
The learning activities in each module are organized as follows:

• Introduction
• Initial Planning in Social Marketing for Public Health
• Developing a Social Marketing and Communication Strategy
• Development and Implementation of a Social Marketing Program for Public Health
• Monitoring and Evaluation of a Social Marketing Program for Public Health

METHODOLOGY
In the course design, we have combined multimedia learning resources such as video reviews with practice exercises, where your participation and commitment are the foundation of learning. The learning activities in each module are organized into lessons and evaluations.

The lessons of each module constitute the basic content of the course and you will be able to review them independently. They are shown in interactive video format and with an approximate duration of 15 minutes each. In them you will find the key concepts. You will also be able to download the content as an accessible PDF file.

COURSE COMPETENCIES
This course provides opportunities to develop competencies related to:

• Supporting people to improve their knowledge and behaviors related to health.
• Applying a systematic process to develop, implement and evaluate social marketing strategies.
• Applying principles of evidence based practice.
• Applying a collaborative process for building a social marketing strategy.
• Adapting communication according to research findings and needs of the target population.

Introduction
Classic education, i.e., the input or objective-based model focuses on primarily cognitive functions, where students must respond to content-focused goals, and where evaluation is representative of memorization, and learning focuses on assigned tasks. This model does not necessarily respond to the health needs of the population, which must be translated into the curricular meshes of the health care practitioners.

The old content-focused model (the input model) has been overtaken by a new form of education, based on the acquisition of competencies (output model), where the process is based on presenting students with critical, complex and contextualized problems and expecting them to show they understand and can analyze the phenomenon.

The COMPETENCY-BASED EDUCATION: Evaluation Strategies Training Program provides an overview of this the new competency-based model, in which learning focuses on capacity buildingin the process, over the outcome obtained, in addition to delivering contextualized situations that favor a real and significant learning. Competency-Based Assessmentsallow students not only to check the acquisition of knowledge and skills, but also to become aware of their level of learning, and to learn from the assessment proper; this creates a circle of constant learning for both facilitators and students.

Course purpose

• Analyzing the theoretical rationales of competency-based assessments as a core element of the teaching and learning processes.
• Identifying and describing the key tools currently used in competency-based assessments.
• Understanding the contributions and benefits of OSCE in the assessment of clinical competencies.
• Mastering and strategies for OSCE implementation.

Target audience

This training is meant for midwifery teachers engaged in teaching both theoretical knowledge and hands-on clinical practices at midwifery training centers.

Duration/Workload

The course is open and available in the VCPH. As it is a self-learning course, participants can administer the time they dedicate to complete the different modules. The COMPETENCY-BASED EDUCATION: Evaluation Strategies Training Program is assigned a total of 18 hours, including the estimated time to complete the units and module assessments.

Course Structure

Module 1: CBE Basics

Unit 1 // CBE Basics
Unit 2 // Meaningful Learning
Unit 3 // Authentic Assessments
Unit 4 // Introduction to Competency-Based Assessment Tools
Assessment // CBE Basics-Assessment

Module 2: Competency-Based Assessment Tools

Unit 1 // Multiple-Choice Questions
Unit 2 // Rubrics
Unit 3 // Portfolios
Unit 4 // Team-Bases Learning
Unit 5 // Checklists
Assessment // Competency-Based Assessment Tools - Assessment

Module 3: Objective Structured Clinical Examinations

Unit 1 // OSCE Basics
Unit 2 // OSCE Planning Stage
Unit 3 // OSCE Execution Stage
Unit 4 // OSCE Evaluation Stage
Practical Scenario // Implementing OSCE - Putting it all together
Assessment // OSCE-Assessment

Evaluation and certification

Upon completion of all the units of each module, participants will need to complete an assessment comprising 10 questions to evaluate their knowledge. These assessments are designed for participants to have multiple opportunities to answer at least 70% of the questions correctly.

This course has the possibility of having the modules in PDF or interactive format for use without an internet connection. You must enter the course to access the material and to meet the evaluation and certification requirements.

Introduction

Reducing the vast unmet need for family planning remains a challenge to countries and the global health community. Family planning providers are at the core of health system responses to these challenges, especially during critical times, such as those brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Having a virtual course available will allow the members of healthcare teams to acquire the knowledge and skills they need in order to improve the quality of the counseling and care they provide to users, expanding the exercise of the sexual and reproductive rights of the population.

The current situation, especially within the context of the restrictions on movement imposed due to the COVID 19 pandemic, makes the virtual approach to these issues particularly relevant.

Teaching Strategies

The course will use teaching resources and tools from the virtual platform to promote learning linked to practical performance, by means of examples with interactive exercises that will allow participants to move through the different modules.

Purpose of the Course

To contribute to the reduction of Maternal Mortality and severe maternal morbidity, and to increase the rate at which contraception needs are met by using modern methods.

Having a completely virtual course available will make it easier for healthcare team members to gain access to knowledge that will translate into skills, which, in turn, will improve the quality of care, expanding the exercise of the sexual and reproductive rights of the population. The current situation, especially within the context of the restrictions on movement imposed due to the COVID 19 pandemic, makes the virtual approach to these issues particularly relevant and convenient with the purpose of sustaining and strengthening the provision of quality care and essential services.

Learning Objectives

Main Objective: To provide specific and practical guidance on 21 modern family planning methods following WHO’s 2019 guideline.

Specific Objectives:

• To know what each method consists of and its effectiveness.
• To identify expected side effects, characteristics, and misconceptions associated with each method.
• To describe when clinical judgment should be used.
• To state who can and cannot use the different contraceptive methods, and when.
• To explain the side effects and know how to advise users.
• To identify different groups that should receive counseling on contraception.
• To recognize ways to deal with sexually transmitted infections.
• To characterize the ways in which contraception counseling should be provided during public health emergencies.

Course Recipients

This course is mainly aimed at healthcare professionals who provide contraception at the first level of care, as well as healthcare managers, supervisors, and policy makers who provide family planning services in developing countries.

Course Load and Dedication

The course is open and available at the CVSP (Public Health Virtual Campus).

Because it is a self-learning course, participants can regulate their hours and the time they will invest in completing it. The estimated time for completing all the modules and the final evaluation is 14 hours.

Course Structure

Introductory Module
Module 1 Combined Oral Contraceptives
Module 2 Progestogen-Only Oral Contraceptives
Module 3 Emergency Contraception Pills
Module 4 Progestogen-Only Injectables
Module 5 Monthly Injectables
Module 6 Combined Contraceptive Patch
Module 7 Combined Contraceptive Vaginal Ring
Module 8 Progesterone-Releasing Vaginal Ring
Module 9 Implants
Module 10 Copper Intrauterine Device
Module 11 Levonorgestrel-Releasing Intrauterine Device
Module 12 Female Sterilization
Module 13 Vasectomy
Module 14 Male Condoms
Module 15 Female Condoms
Module 16 Spermicides & Diaphragms
Module 17 Cervical Caps
Module 18 Fertility Awareness Methods
Module 19 Withdrawal (Coitus Interruptus)
Module 20 Lactational Amenorrhea Method
Module 21 Care Provided to Different Groups
Module 22 Sexually Transmitted Infections
Module 23 Maternal and Newborn Health
Module 24 Reproductive Health Issues
Module 25 Provision of Contraception Counseling
Module 26 Family Planning for Women at High Risk for HIV
Module 27 Provision of Family Planning Services During Public Health Emergencies

Evaluation and Certification

As participants go through the different modules, the course will propose exercises that will allow them to incorporate the contents and will serve as practice for the Final Evaluation that will be taken upon completing all the modules.

The Final Evaluation consists of 30 multiple-choice or true/false questions. In order to pass the Final Evaluation, 70% of the participant’s answers must be correct. Participants can repeat the test in order to obtain the passing score.

Those who meet the requirements to pass the course and who complete the VCPH Quality Survey will be able to download their certificate of completion issued by the Pan American Health Organization.

Introduction

Welcome to the course GUIDELINES FOR THE MANAGEMENT OF RETINOPATHY OF PREMATURITY (ROP), PREVENTION AND SCREENING. The purpose of this e-learning program is for participants to know and put into practice the recommendations for the prevention and screening of Retinopathy of Prematurity (ROP) identified by the Clinical Practice Guidelines (CPG) from the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO). Retinopathy of prematurity is a potentially serious condition that develops in preterm newborns and that affects developing retinal blood vessels. ROP is the leading cause of avoidable blindness in children, thus every preterm infant at risk should be specifically screened in order to detect ROP and prevent disease progression accordingly, which may result in visual impairment or blindness. The leading cause associated to ROP is oxygen administration with inaccurate monitoring in delivery rooms and neonatal intensive care units.

Purpose of the Course

The purpose of the course is for participants to incorporate the concepts and necessary strategies to properly develop the prevention and management of Retinopathy.

Learning Objectives:

Main Objective

• To raise awareness on the importance of ROP prevention and screening, since it is one of the leading causes of blindness in children.

Specific Objectives

• To identify risk factors and prevent early conditions associated with ROP development in preterm newborns during neonatal care unit stay.
• To review the classification of assessment, development, and evaluation of the recommendations system (in which GRADE assessment is based on) to assess the quality of the set of evidence and to interpret the recommendation reports.
• To learn about the recommendations from the Clinical Practice Guidelines on risk or protective factors for the occurrence of ROP.
• To learn about the recommendations from the Clinical Practice Guidelines on usefulness and conditions of screening for ROP in premature newborns.
• To properly screen for ROP timely in newborns with RO according to the recommendations discussed.

Modules Contents

• How does ROP impact in Latin America?: ROP introduction.
• What is ROP?: ROP definition and causes. Population at risk. Healthcare staff. International classification of ROP.
• How to interpret the recommendations from the CPG: Interpretation of CPG recommendations. Quick adaptation process of the CPG. Other considerations.
• What are the recommendations for the ROP diagnosis and screening?: PICO questions. Question 1: What are the risk or protective factors for the occurrence of retinopathy of prematurity (ROP)? Question 2: What is the ROP screening technique for use with premature newborns?
• What does the neonatal care unit look like?: Recommendations and good practices on screening, feeding and oxygen administration in neonatal units.
• How to proceed if ROP occurs?: Care required for a premature newborn in connection with ROP.

Course purpose

The purpose of the course is to incorporate skills to implement new Maternal and Perinatal Death Audit Committees, or strengthen existing committees. By completing the virtual course, the participant will have acquired knowledge about the definition of maternal and perinatal death, cycle of continuous improvement applied to the audit, creation and strengthening of audit committees and response planning to avoid new maternal and perinatal deaths.

Learning objectives:

Main objective
Improve maternal health through the understanding of maternal mortality and perinatal mortality situation.

Specific objectives

• Understanding the basic concepts of maternal and perinatal mortality.
• Understanding the basic concepts of data and indicators applied to maternal and perinatal mortality.
• Understanding the importance of data quality for monitoring and decision-making.
• Capacity building for the understanding of MDPSR framework.
• Improving audits of maternal and perinatal mortality at all levels.
• Including the “R” of Response in the framework of MDSR.

Audience

This course is aimed to:

• Medical doctors and general practitioners
• Nursing
• Midwives / Obstetricians
• Gynecologists
• Pediatricians and neonatologists
• Professionals involved in management and administrative activities of different institutions related to maternal and perinatal health

Duration / Workload

The course is open and available in the VCPH. As it is a self-learning course, participants can regulate their times and moments of dedication. When including the estimated time to complete the modules and the Final Evaluation, the Course is assigned a total of 3 hours.

Course Structure:
Maternal Deaths / Three Delays Model
Perinatal Deaths
Maternal and Perinatal Death Surveillance and Response Framework
Six step audit cycle
Committees - Introduction
Preparing a Committee
Conducting a Committee
Methods for reviewing a case
MPDSR framework review

This course has the possibility of having the modules in PDF or interactive format for use without an internet connection.
You must enter the course to access the material and to meet the evaluation and certification requirements.

Background

In the Americas, significant progress has been attained in maternity and newborn care since the end of the 20th century evidenced by a downward tendency in pregnancy and delivery mortality rates. However, this progress has been slow and uneven, and, although improvements have been achieved in terms of access, the Americas display an important lag in terms of the quality of maternity and newborn care.

The WHO maternity and newborn health care quality framework considers dignified and respectful care as one of the essential components to improve perinatal health results (OMS, 2016; Tuncalp et al., 2015). Respectful maternity and newborn care is an approach which focuses on the individual and human rights. It frames aspects related to ethics, rights and interpersonal relationships, including the respect for women and newborn fundamental human rights, such as autonomy, dignity, decision-making and preferences.

The WHO/PAHO promote the concept of pregnancy and childbirth as positive experiences, updating clinical guidelines for prenatal care and childbirth management and proposing, based on the available evidence, a holistic health care model focused on women and based on universal human rights, which promotes dignified and respectful maternity and newborn care as an essential element of health care quality (OMS & OPS, 2018, 2019).

Improving health care quality based on the best available evidence is a never-ending endeavor. Within this quality framework, at a global level, the importance and promotion of the adoption of perinatal health care models focused on women and their babies is acknowledged. Effective communication and emotional support are essential elements of quality maternity and newborn care (OMS, 2016).

Purpose of the course:

Rising the awareness and strengthening the capacity of the interested parties regarding concepts and practices related to respectful maternity and newborn care; identifying the legal frameworks which support it; recognizing and describing the use of some of these tools to plan, implement and monitor quality improvement initiatives for maternity and newborn care in health care services.

Objectives of the course:

Upon completing this course, attendees will be able to:

• Define respectful maternity and newborn care and why it is important
• Identify the international, national and institutional regulatory frameworks that support respectful maternity and newborn care
• Develop skills to use tools to implement and monitor respectful maternity and newborn care quality improvement and promotion initiatives in health care services

Course format:

This is a self-paced training so participants can take each module at their own pace, deciding when and for how long will they explore the modules. There is no deadline to complete this course.

Class Load and Workload:

The course is open and available through CVSP. Since this is a self-study course, participants are able to regulate their time and workload. The estimated time for the completion of all modules and the final assessment is 25 hours.

Intended audience:

Individuals interested in the promotion of respectful quality maternity and newborn care, including health care professionals, professional midwives, managers, government representatives and civil society members.

Course structure

Module 1 - Conceptual aspects and overview of respectful maternity and newborn care

• Session 1: What is respectful and maternity care? WHO quality framework and respectful maternity and newborn care
• Session 2: The importance and current situation of respectful maternity and newborn care: the prevalence and impact of abuse and disrespect
• Session 3: Brief history of respectful maternity and newborn care; respectful maternity and newborn care within the framework of global and regional rights: the Respectful Maternity Care Charter: The Universal Rights of Women and Newborns (Alianza del Listón Blanco, 2019). Respectful maternity and newborn care within national regulatory frameworks. Case study: Right to intercultural health under the Constitution of Bolivia.

Module 2 - How to implement quality improvement actions and promote respectful maternity and newborn care?

• Session 1: Strategies to improve respectful maternity and newborn care. International Childbirth Initiative: The 12 steps to a safe and respectful health care for mothers, newborns and families (FIGO et al.).
• Session 2: Design of a humanized and intercultural delivery room
• Session 3: Respectful practices based on evidence and unrecommended practices
• Session 4: Informed consent and effective communication
• Session 5: Tools to assess the implementation of respectful maternity and newborn care within the care quality framework

Module 3 - How to monitor the quality of health care and respectful maternity care?

• Session 1: Respectful maternity and newborn care indicators (based on the WHO QoC network)

Introduction to the course

One year from the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, scientists around the world have made rapid progress in developing safe and effective vaccines that will help reduce COVID-19-associated illness, hospitalizations, and deaths. These vaccines are expected to make a significant contribution to the equitable protection and promotion of human well-being and the gradual return to social, economic, work, and family activities.

Initially, however, it is anticipated that all countries will face limited availability of vaccine doses. This means that it will be necessary to identify priority groups for vaccination and develop microplanning for systematic, organized vaccination aimed at achieving the established vaccination goals.

Purpose of the course

The purpose of this course is to provide health personnel with guidance for planning the introduction of COVID-19 vaccines, prioritize the population groups to be vaccinated, and develop microplanning at the operational level[LMD(1] .

Learning objectives

By the end of this course, participants should be able to:

• Identify the criteria recommended by PAHO/WHO for prioritizing population groups to be vaccinated.
• Use the tool to determine social vulnerability to COVID-19.
• Implement tiered vaccination[LMD(2]  based on vaccine availability.
• Develop step-by-step microplanning to introduce the COVID-19 vaccine.

Structure of the course

The course consists of five (5) units:

• Unit I:   Determination of priority population groups for vaccination.
• Unit II:  Evaluation of community vulnerability to COVID-19.
• Unit III: Vaccination in phases / tiers.
• Unit IV: Microplanning.
• Unit V:  Development of microplanning. 

Duration

The course will take approximately two (2) hours to complete.

Certification

Participants who review all material and respond to the Virtual Campus for Public Health (VCPH) quality survey will be able to download the certificate of participation issued by the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO).

Introduction to the course
Healthcare workers are constantly exposed to various occupational respiratory hazards that may have lasting effects even after exposure ceases. This, may derive in work-related diseases which can lead to a lifetime of lung problems if not properly prevented and, ultimately, treated. The use of masks and respirators reduces the spread of the infection and though their use is recommended and, sometimes, mandatory, it should be accompanied by a training program to decrease the risk of infection.

Purpose
The aim is to provide health teams with tools and information that will help them avoid respiratory hazards and risks.

Objectives
1. Raise awareness on the importance of respiratory protection and the need to and benefits of receiving training on it.
2. Identify respiratory hazards in the workplace.
3. Describe respiratory protection options in healthcare facilities.
4. Recognize different types of respirators.
5. Analyze how to fit a respirator, and the steps you should follow to keep yourself safe.

People this course is intended for
This training course is aimed at all health workers in general.

Minimum hours required
An estimated 3 hours are required to complete this training course.

How to take the course
The course is available at PAHO’s Virtual Campus for Public Health (VCPH).
Since this is a self-paced course, participants can choose when to do it and at what pace. Approximately 30 minutes are required per module, depending on the participant’s previous knowledge of the topic.

Skills you can develop
This course will allow you to develop skills related to identifying respiratory hazards and applying the correct measures to avoid certain contaminants and recognizing the need for a risk assessment program.

Course structure

• Introduction
• M1: Respiratory Hazards in the Health Setting
• M2: Respiratory Protection
• M3: Developing a Respiratory Protection Program
• M4: Fit-Testing and Respirator Use

Assessment
Evaluation and certificate After finishing the four modules, participants must take a final test of 12 multiple-choice questions. The final test is designed to offer participants multiple opportunities to answer correctly until they reach the 70% minimum necessary score. In order to obtain the certificate, participants must meet the following requirements:

• Successful completion of the exercises.
• A passing mark in the final test.

Participants who meet these requirements and complete the quality survey in the Virtual Campus for Public Health (VCPH) may download their certificate of completion issued by the Pan American Health Organization.

Course Introduction and Purpose

There is widespread recognition that violence against women and girls is a profound public health problem with adverse consequences. It also carries severe consequences for our societies.

It can be committed by any person, regardless of their relationship to the survivor, in any setting, and this violence can take many forms – including intimate partner violence and sexual violence.

Preventing and responding to violence requires a continuous multisectoral and multifaceted approach, and strengthening the medico-legal response is an important part of addressing violence against women and girls.

Therefore, the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO)/World Health Organization (WHO) has developed this introductory course for frontline providers, with a particular focus on health care providers, to raise awareness for and build skills in the medico-legal response to intimate partner violence and sexual violence.

Just a reminder that this course is just the beginning – we hope you engage with our supplementary resources and take additional training courses, including PAHO/WHO trainings that offer the opportunity to practice your clinical skills and trainings offered by our partners.

Learning Objectives

Throughout this course, you will:

1. Explore the medico-legal response to intimate partner violence and sexual violence: why it’s important, what it includes, and how it fits into the clinical management of rape;
2. Learn about the requirements of forensic documentation and learn how to collect forensic evidence, in addition to learning how to provide clinical and psychological care;
3. Explore the requirements for a medico-legal response across settings, including learning about the importance of multisectoral collaboration. 

Target Audience

The target audience for this training includes: a. health care providers, such as: doctors, nurses, midwives, community health care providers, health care managers, and health care students, specifically those who interact with potential survivors in emergency and obstetric/gynecological services, b. law enforcement, such as: police and protection officers, c. legal and justice representatives, such as: lawyers, legal advocates, and judges, d. laboratory staff, specifically: forensic laboratory staff, and e. social workers.

Course Workload and Dedication

This training was derived from the following publications (amongst others), from PAHO/WHO and partners such as United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR):

Responding to Intimate Partner Violence and Sexual Violence Against Women

Health Care for Women Subjected to Intimate Partner Violence or Sexual Violence: A Clinical Handbook

Strengthening the Medico-Legal Response to Sexual Violence

Guidelines for Medico-Legal Care of Victims of Sexual Violence

Clinical Management of Rape and Intimate Partner Violence Survivors: Developing Protocols for use in Humanitarian Settings

This course is open and available at the PAHO Virtual Campus of Public Health (VCPH). The course is designed to be completed at your own pace and to fit into your own schedule, it should take 15 hours in total to complete.

We hope that you find this course engaging, and we hope that you explore further resources and the additional reading that is included.

Course Structure

This course is divided into ten modules:

1. Introduction to the medico-legal response: How this response fits within the clinical management of rape and why this response is important, who needs to be included, and the role of health care providers in this response
2. Guiding principles: Survivor-centered safety and ethical principles to guide all interactions with survivors
3. Myth or fact: Dispelling common myths and explaining facts about intimate partner violence and sexual violence
4. Multisectoral collaboration: Explanation of the roles of multisectoral providers and the importance of collaboration
5. First-line support: Introduction to “LIVES” and immediate care for survivors who present after intimate partner violence or sexual violence
6. Self-Care: How health care providers can care for themselves and suggest self-care strategies to survivors
7. Documentation: Overview of documentation, including of survivors’ stories, and documentation best practices
8. Clinical care after sexual assault: Clinical care to offer survivors, including, for example, prophylaxis and emergency contraception
9. Forensic evidence collection: How to collect forensic DNA evidence and how to complete drug facilitated assault testing
10. Preparing for an examination: Personnel and infrastructure requirements for the medico-legal response and how to build capacity

Didactic Strategy

This is a self-study, free, open to the public and self-administered course. The modules have various educational materials such as: tables and infographics, videos, animations, case studies, questions to consider, further reading, and summaries.

Bibliographic References

In each module you will find basic and suggested reference material to help your learning process. We strongly encourage you to check out these additional resources and engage with other training available by PAHO/WHO and partners.

Assessment and Certification

There is an assessment, of 40 questions, to complete at the end. In order to promote your learning, you will have unlimited opportunities to pass this final quiz. Participants who meet the course approval requirements, i.e., those who complete all ten modules and pass the final assessment by answering at least 70% questions correct, will be able to download their certificate of completion, issued by PAHO/WHO.

Acknowledgements

This course was developed by the Noncommunicable Diseases and Mental Health Department of PAHO/WHO. We gratefully acknowledge the financial support by Canada. Content development was led by Erin Hartman and Britta Baer (both PAHO), informed by past support PAHO provided to Grenada under the Spotlight Initiative. We are grateful for early advice by Darlene Omeir Taylor and Fiona Anthony (both PAHO). The online course benefited from the collaboration of Racoon Gang Learning Company, who assisted with developing the interactive learning experience. The online course was piloted in Guyana, and we are grateful for Guyanese health care providers and leaders for their review of the pilot of this course, with particular thanks to Karen Roberts (PAHO).

General objectives
1. Increase in-country capacity of human resources trained on the basic concepts of infection prevention and control measures applied to healthcare facilities.
2. Minimize the opportunity for transmission of pathogens in healthcare facilities.

Target audience
• Health facility workers with a degree in Medicine, Nursing, or related field; persons who have not taken Basic IPC Training in the previous 3 years, and persons who have taken Basic IPC and did not receive a certificate of completion
• Infection Preventionist from the national or facility levels, epidemiologists, or focal points for service quality.

Enrollment in this course is only for previously selected participants.

The Department of Health Systems and Services has developed this program to enable the new advisors to have a thorough understanding of the Organization's technical cooperation priorities and to facilitate dialogue and collaboration between headquarters and country offices.

The purpose of the program is to provide opportunities to:

-            Learn and exchange information about PAHO's mission, main mandates, and technical cooperation strategy.

-            Get to know the mission of the HSS Department and its technical units.

-            Present priorities for cooperation and exchange with the technical teams of each of the Department's technical units.

-            Review documents, guides, and priority courses.

-            Exchange strategies, modalities, and priorities in country cooperation.

-            Promote inter-programmatic work within the department and with priority initiatives of the Organization.

Audience: HSS regional advisors, national advisors, with a special focus on those recently incorporated into country offices.

Hybrid modality: Weekly 90-minute meetings via Zoom and the Virtual Campus Classroom (VCPH) to review materials and exchange through forums.

12 synchronous sessions held on Wednesdays from 10:00 a.m -11:30 a.m. WDC (EDT)

Start date: Wednesday, March 12.

End date: Wednesday, May 28.

The Virtual Campus for Public Health (VCPH) is a special program of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO). It operates through a decentralized network comprising individuals, institutions, and organizations that share open educational resources addressing public health issues relevant to the region, utilizing information and communication technologies. The VCPH coordinates with the different technical areas of PAHO to develop regional educational proposals, and promotes the establishment of local networks that support the development of educational proposals aligned with technical cooperation that are coordinated through the country nodes.

Since its inception in 2003, the VCPH has progressively enhanced its technological and educational platform under the principles of accessibility and quality. This enabled an effective response during the COVID-19 pandemic and a sustained increase in virtual educational offerings across different modalities, reaching more than 3 million users in the first quarter of 2024.

This series of tutor training seminars forms an integral part of the VCPH’s strategy to enhance teaching capacities for the management of virtual courses that support the PAHO’s agenda for technical cooperation.

Purpose of the seminar series:

• To enhance the competencies and technical capacities of the teaching teams involved in VCPH courses, particularly in virtual tutoring. This also aims to strengthen the quality of the educational proposals in the Moodle Classrooms of the Virtual Campus.
• Understanding the fundamental challenges of virtual teaching and the role of the tutor, enabling participants to adapt and/or modify their practices to provide effective tutoring.
• Integrating resources and activities (particularly forums and assignments) available within the VCPH Virtual Classroom, as teaching and assessment tools, to create meaningful learning experiences and provide continuous support to course participants.
• Analyzing work/collaboration patterns between the teaching teams and the support provided by the technical team of the VCPH, to identify and share experiences and best practices among tutors involved in the courses.

Learning Objectives:
In this training initiative, participants will be able to:

• Recognize the Virtual Campus for Public Health (VCPH) as a strategy for PAHO's technical cooperation.
• Reflect on the role of the tutor and the unique characteristics of teaching within virtual learning environments.
• Acquire knowledge and skills in key aspects of effective tutoring.
• Explore the VCPH virtual classroom, including its activities and resources.
• Discuss the various types of courses offered by the VCPH.
• Utilize basic tools for monitoring and evaluation of participants in VCPH courses.
• Strengthen their teaching practices through the exchange of experiences with peers and the incorporation of new strategies.

Recipients:

• Teaching teams that  will undertake tutoring responsibilities in regional courses and country nodes in the VCPH.
• Coordinators of existing courses within the VCPH or those planning to develop courses in the near future.
• Course coordinators interested in learning more about the role of tutors and aiming to strengthen the competencies of their tutor teams.
• Virtual tutors seeking to strengthen their skills in virtual teaching.

Workload and dedication:
Participants will be required to commit approximately 15 hours in total. This will be distributed in three synchronous Zoom sessions (of 1 hour and 30 minutes each), and 10 hours for asynchronous activities within the virtual classroom.

Structure of the training initiative:
The series of training seminars is organized under a modular structure made up of a space for introduction to the course and familiarization with the virtual classroom and three Learning Modules. The development proposes a progressive advance from familiarization to the Campus, the analysis of the role of tutor, to experimentation with the different resources in Moodle.

It will adopt a hybrid modality, blending synchronous sessions with asynchronous activities to foster autonomous learning in the virtual classroom. There will be 3 synchronous virtual Zoom sessions of 1 hour and a half each. During the sessions, presentations will be made by consultants who provide support and follow-up to the VCPH courses, by the VCPH team, and tools of the Virtual Classroom platform (Moodle) will be shown. These sessions will also include practice opportunities, discussions, and brief workshop-style activities to enhance engagement and participation.

Participants will also have access to a virtual classroom, where they will find all the material, recordings of the sessions, and links, and where they will develop practical activities.

This course is available to selected participants.

Meeting the goals of the Immunization Agenda 2030 requires, among other things, to focus on monitoring vaccine safety and vaccination to ensure a high-quality supply chain and highly effective vaccines linked to a primary care-based service delivery system.
In the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has required the quick deployment of vaccines under emergency authorization, it is imperative to focus on vaccine safety measures, including the surveillance of Events Supposedly Attributable to Vaccination or Immunization (ESAVI).
An ESAVI is defined as an event supposedly attributable to vaccination or immunization (ESAVI) is defined as any untoward medical occurrence which follows immunization, and which does not necessarily have a causal relationship with the vaccination process or the vaccine. The adverse event may be any unfavorable or unintended sign, abnormal laboratory finding, symptom, or disease.
This online course will provide you with the knowledge and skills necessary for the correct development of the ESAVI surveillance cycle, allowing the compilation of useful information on the emergence of adverse events. This information will be used by teams of professionals at the national and regional levels in order to minimize the occurrence of these events and their impact on the population.

The course consists of 10 modules, including information on a broad range of topics, as well as practical activities and the analysis of a case study throughout the course.

Purpose
The purpose of this course is to present technical regional standards for surveillance of events supposedly attributable to vaccination or immunization to guide case management, generate reliable information, guarantee the permanent monitoring of vaccine safety and answer promptly and objectively to the demands of the public.

Furthermore, this course is aimed at strengthening ESAVI surveillance in the region by training healthcare personnel in the basic principles and standardized practices of the ESAVI surveillance cycle across all national teams.

Goals
1.    Identify the essential components of a safe vaccination system.
2.    Explain the scope and definition of an event supposedly attributable to vaccination or immunization.
3.    Recognize the models and principles of ESAVI surveillance.
4.    Describe the steps to implement the ESAVI surveillance system.
5.    Identify the key factors in ESAVI detection, reporting, and investigation.
6.    Identify the key elements of data management and indicators for monitoring ESAVI.
7.    Analyze the key elements of an ESAVI causality assessment.
8.    Review the actions and response to ESAVI reporting and final case classification.
9.    Recognize the necessary elements for correct risk communication.

Target Audience
This course is intended for professionals working in Health Ministries, Regulatory Agencies, Epidemiology Departments, Vaccine Safety National Committees and local healthcare staff with the aim of guiding them in adverse events surveillance, identification, reporting, analysis and communication.

Certified Hours
An estimated 15 hours are required in order to complete the course.

Course Modality
The course is available at PAHO’s Virtual Campus for Public Health (VCPH). Since this is a self-paced course, participants can take it at their own pace. Participants will need between 30 to 120 minutes to complete each module, depending on the participant’s previous knowledge on the topic. In sum, including the total estimated minutes per module, document review, activities and tests, the course is assigned 15 hours of seating time.

Skills
This course will allow you to develop skills related to the management and shared use of information and documentation about immunization, with a rigorous, collaborative and adaptable approach to decision-making in various areas, geared towards achieving the course goals.

Course Structure
The course is organized around a modular structure, allowing participants to advance progressively through the cycle of ESAVI surveillance. However, nonlinear progression is also allowed. The program is made up of an introductory clip, a toolbox, 10 modules and a final assessment.

This course is a comprehensive introduction to concepts and tools for Evidence-Based Journalism for Health.  It aims to develop and enhance the capacity of journalists and health communicators in producing and reporting accurate and timely information, in a language and format that people understand, with a solutions-based approach to journalism, to enable populations to make health-promoting decisions and to adopt positive behaviors that contribute to achieving public health goals, while combating misinformation, fear, and stigma. 

Purpose of the course:

The course aims to offer tools for communicators and journalists, particularly those covering or interested in health and science, to communicate evidence-based, clear, accurate, and timely content through news, human interest stories, editorials, interviews, reports, press releases, chronicles, and other formats, in multiple media while keeping a sense of ethics and values on their work.

Course Objectives:

1. Promote solutions-based reporting and health communication regarding community health issues.

2. Facilitate the achievement of public health goals through the use of tools that identify and share information that is timely, comprehensible, and effective in improving health behaviors.

3. Understand how inclusive and participatory Risk Communication and Community Engagement (RCCE) Plans can protect and safeguard populations in health and identify gender and inclusion issues in RCCE.

4. Explore the role of media and communications in addressing misinformation, fear, and stigma as it relates to health issues.

5. Increase journalists’ and health communicators’ understanding of and reporting about specific health topics, including mental health and psychosocial support considerations, violence prevention, and climate change and health.

6. Discuss and provide tips and recommendations for self-care while reporting or communicating.

Course structure:

There are 4 modules to complete, which include:

1. Module 1: Introduction to Risk Communication and Community Engagement (RCCE) and Solutions Journalism;

2. Module 2: Countering Misinformation and Stigma through the Media;

3. Module 3: Reporting Specific Health Topics;

4. Module 4: Self-care for journalists; 

Modality:

Asynchronous LMS utilized for distance learning could be used synchronously. 

Audience

Learners are media professionals in the Caribbean working in print, broadcast, and online media, communicators in the Ministries of Health and the Government Information Services of Caribbean countries, communicators in civil society organizations, information entrepreneurs, and any other professional or trainee engaged in communication for health. Secondary audiences include communication officers, youth leaders, science and health communicators, and similar figures.

Duration:

The completion time for this course is estimated at 20 hours, 10.6 hours of didactics and curated resources, and 9.4 hours of work participating in activities and quizzes to assist the student in the synthesis of the materials. 

This course is only available to selected participants.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), mental health challenges are becoming the number one cause of years-lived with disability worldwide. Depression, one of the most prevalent and costly conditions in our society, affects over 400 million people globally, and ranks as the single largest contributor to global disability at 7.5% of all years lived with disability in 2015. When mental health challenges co-occur with other chronic medical conditions, there is a higher morbidity and cost to the healthcare system. Even though the vast majority of “People with Lived Experience” (PWLE) can be handled early and effectively in a primary care setting, more than half of individuals do not receive help.

The stigmatization of people living with mental health challenges and substance use disorders is all too common, even within healthcare environments. People with lived experiences of mental health challenges, including substance use problems, often report feeling devalued, dismissed, and dehumanized by many of the healthcare professionals with whom they come into contact. Stigma in healthcare settings can manifest in subtle and largely unintended ways. Providers feel that their efforts result in no measurable change, are commonly less optimistic about treatment adherence and outcomes, refer PWLE more frequently to specialty services, delaying early intervention, and tend to attribute physical illnesses to the mental health diagnosis. Such practices have resulted in poor patient care, which increases morbidity and mortality within this vulnerable population.

Stigma can be related to a lack of skills and confidence when working with PWLE. Furthermore, healthcare providers lack awareness of their own prejudices and have an incomplete understanding of how important they are in the process of recovery (Knaak & Patten, 2016). Thus, mental health-related stigma remains a significant barrier to effective treatment and recovery. To address this growing public health issue, PAHO formed a partnership with the Mental Health Commission of Canada (MHCC) to address stigma at the clinical level.

The Understanding Stigma (US) and Strengthening Cognitive Behavioral Interpersonal Skills (CBIS) program combines two evidenced-based MHCC complementary stigma-reduction programs, which was piloted across the English-speaking Caribbean countries and territories in 2021.

Understanding Stigma is a self-directed web-based program designed to provide professionals with an opportunity to recognize attitudes and behaviors that could potentially lead to stigma, its impact on PWLE, and practical approaches to address some of its challenges. The Cognitive Behavioral Interpersonal Skills program is a tutor facilitated skills building component designed to reduce providers’ sense of helplessness and anxiety, which can lead to clinical distancing when caring for PWLE.

Educational approach 

The educational methodology will consist of a blended, online self-learning and tutor-guided approach for primary healthcare providers. Didactic sessions are balanced with integrated discussion and interactive activities throughout to facilitate an active and participatory learning environment, accessible and engaging for learners. A core element of the program is social contact with PWLE (First Voice videos), in which they share their experience living with mental health challenges and their recovery journey. This approach allows for an improved meaningful learning linked to practical performance.

Course purpose

The purpose of this program is to reduce mental health related stigma and improve clinical and practice management skills among primary care providers when working with individuals experiencing mental health challenges.

Main objective

After this course, participants will have a better understanding of mental health-related stigma, its impact, how to reduce it, and how a structured training program that targets improved practitioners’ knowledge, management skills and confidence when caring for this population group, leads to diminished social distance and stigmatization.

Audience

The course has been tailored for participants who fulfill the following criteria: 

• Primary care practitioners from English-speaking Caribbean countries, who are working as: MD general practitioners, specialized nurse practitioners, clinical psychologists and other mental health care providers directly involved in PWLE care.
  • Two or more years of clinical working experience in health care (preferably in mental health services).
  • Interested in enhancing their capacity to understand stigma and implicit biases when treating mental health patients within their Primary Health Care networks.
  • Have the support of the Ministry of Health /Supervising Body and from their own institutional work supervisors.

Duration / Workload

This course will be delivered virtually via PAHO’s Virtual Campus for Public Health.

The 16-week tutor-led course will be offered in English to groups of 60 -100 primary health care providers (maximum) from across the English-speaking Caribbean countries and territories. The course will have a duration of 60 hours and it will take place from August 15 until November 30, 2022.

Trainees will also commit to participate in individual and group work that will require: 

• Approximately three to four hours a week of work in different synchronous and asynchronous activities, as well as turning in written assignments and course work in a timely manner.
  • The weekly 3-4 hours would include the “Individual Work” requirement between sessions (action period) in which you are asked to practice (in-office) with your own clients the skills you learned.
  • While participation schedules are flexible, the overall agenda of the course activities must be met.
    • The course lasts 16 weeks in total, with individual and group activities, as well as orientation and support from a course tutor consultant.
    • Training modules and content might be adjusted according to the needs.

Course structure

Understanding Stigma online self-learning
Module 1: Raising awareness
Module 2: Impact of stigma
Module 3: Challenging stigma and discrimination
Strengthening Cognitive Behavioral Interpersonal Skills
Module 4: Introduction to CBIS program
Module 5: Problem List & Action Plan care pathway
Module 6: Diagnostic Assessment Interview (DAI) care pathway
Module 7: Self- Assessment Questionnaire care pathway

Evaluation and certification of participants

Healthcare providers will be evaluated in multiple ways. Active participation to classes will be considered, while preparatory reading and understanding of presented material will be directly assessed through quizzes and individual and group assignments. Participants will also need to submit original work around the file of “Understanding Stigma and Strengthening Cognitive Behavioral Interpersonal Skills”.

Participants will work alone and together in groups to complete their weekly work assignments and final group project.

Participants who successfully obtain a passing grade of 80% of the course modules assignments and participation in seven modules, will be able to download their course completion certificate issued by the Pan American Health Organization.

Introduction to the course

In recent decades, immunization programs have faced several challenges. During the introduction and deployment of COVID-19 vaccination, it became clear that health personnel had many questions about vaccine safety, equity, and delivery processes. These questions arise in a context where misinformation abounds, and health workers must address them. To increase confidence in vaccination, it is necessary for all health workers to improve their basic knowledge on vaccine development and on best practices in immunization, especially in relation to the benefits and safety of vaccines. This course “Basic Concepts in Immunization for Health Workers” is an introduction to the main concepts and basic principles of vaccines and immunization, including the types of vaccines available, their application throughout the life course and in special situations such as emergencies.

Purpose

The purpose of the course is to strengthen the fundamental knowledge of health workers on immunization and vaccines, and to provide essential information that will allow them to act as active promoters of the immunization program.

Competencies

The course provides an opportunity for participants to:

• Review the evolution process of vaccine creation, development and effectiveness.
• Review information on the functioning of the immune system and the categorization of vaccines according to their type, effectiveness and mode of administration.
• Consider essential information on the event surveillance system for vaccine safety, in order to understand expectations when faced with an Event Supposedly Attributable to Vaccination or Immunization (ESAVI).
• Tailor information on vaccines and vaccination by making it accessible to each community and individual, identifying factors that may generate reluctance or biases towards vaccines and develop strategies to minimize them.

Learning objectives

• Describe the main concepts of vaccines, vaccination, the history of vaccines, and immunization.
• Understand the clinical trial process that must be followed for the development of vaccines.
• Analyze safe administration procedures for vaccine.
• Describe the ESAVI surveillance system and its types.
• Know and understand the process of identification, notification, investigation, data management, causality analysis, determination of response actions and communication involved in ESAVI.
• Recognize the importance of immunization through a person's life course.
• Develop best practices and strategies to address vaccine hesitancy and debunk misconceptions.

This course is developed for

• Managers of national immunization programs in the Americas.
• Health professionals in primary healthcare services, including immunization services.
• Healthcare professionals who are entering the workforce or who need to update their technical skills.

Course structure

• • Module 1: Introduction and immunology
  • Module 2: History of vaccines
  • Module 3: Exploring more about vaccines
  • Module 4: Events Supposedly Attributable to Vaccination or Immunization (ESAVI)
  • Module 5: Immunization across the life course
  • Module 6: Share information about vaccines

Workload

The course is available in the Public Health Virtual Campus of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO). We estimate that each module can be completed within 60 minutes, depending on the participant's level of knowledge on the subject. Therefore, when considering the estimated time to complete all modules and the corresponding assessments, the course is assigned a total of 7 hours. 

Assessment and certification

Participants must take a final exam after completing all the modules of the course. The final exam contains 30 multiple-choice or true/false questions. It is designed to give participants multiple opportunities to answer correctly until they achieve the required score of at least 70%. Participants who meet the requirements of approval of the course and complete the Virtual Campus Quality Survey will be able to download their certificate of approval issued by the PAHO.

Course purpose
The purpose of this course is to contribute to the strengthening of pharmaceutical regulation in the Caribbean by providing a knowledge base on essential regulatory functions for small States.