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A functioning pharmaceutical system is essential to provide access to appropriately used, quality- assured essential medical products including vaccine storage and distribution. It is a foundational element for health systems, a pre-requisite to universal health coverage, and a powerful means of promoting health equity”.

Medical product quality assurance is an essential part of the entire supply chain from the producers of active ingredients to health facility staff preparing prescriptions. At almost all levels in the supply chain, national and international pharmaceutical quality assurance standards are defined and applied. The national regulatory authorities (NRAs) are, along with other matters, responsible that those standards are adopted and implemented. It is their prerogative to authorize and inspect all pharmaceutical organizations.

Not all NRAs are familiar with the updated WHO Good Storage and Distribution Practices (GSDP) standards. They are not always familiar with the way to conduct an inspection, or to evaluate an organization’s corrective action and preventive action (CAPA) plan. Increased inspection knowledge and capacity with the NRAs would increase the number of patients that have access to quality medicines, including vaccines.

Course purpose
The purpose of this training is to provide personnel in NRAs with the skills to conduct GSDP inspections of wholesalers and distributors. The course will be based on WHO standards and will cover all medical products. Specific attention shall be given to the management of vaccines in the supply chain, in particular COVID-19 vaccines.

Learning objectives
The main objectives of the course are to:

• learn and appreciate GSDP standards and requirements
• develop GSDP inspection skills
• apply GSDP inspection skills in practical cases

Target audience
The target group for the course are staff of the national regulatory authorities or equivalent agencies, specifically staff that already conduct inspections or may conduct inspections in the future.

Learning strategies
The course is conducted on PAHO/WHO’s virtual educational platform, Virtual Campus for Public Health (VCPH). The course incorporates authentic learning principles and promotes a collaborative learning environment which will encourage sharing of resources and help establish a “community of practice” amongst the participants. The course tutor will be an GSDP auditing and training expert, and will be supported by an academic coordinator.

The course comprises interactive modules that will incorporate pre-recorded video presentations, readings, activities, quizzes, guides and tools. It will include weekly participation in discussion forums, short individual assignments, and interactive group Zoom video sessions facilitated by the course tutor, all based on practical scenarios encountered in GSDP inspections. The final assignment will comprise an authentically constructed case study. A pre/post-course test evaluation will be required to be completed at the beginning and end of the course.

Following completion of the course, where feasible, participants will be encouraged to organize to observe a GSDP inspection alongside a senior inspector.

Hours of commitment
It is estimated that the course will take 45 hours of time for each participant.

Course structure and schedule

The course is divided into 7 content modules over 11 weeks. Each module starts on a Wednesday and concludes on a Tuesday.

Module 0: Course Orientation and Introduction
Module 1: Global Quality Issues & Introduction to GSDP Guidelines
Module 2: Conducting GSDP Inspections
Module 3: General GSDP Quality System Requirements
Module 4: Receipt and Quality Control
Module 5: Storage and Warehousing
Module 6: Dispatch and Transport
Module 7: Cold Chain Management

This course is only available to selected participants.

The Mental Health Global Action Program (mhGAP) states that “mental health conditions are common in all regions of the world and have a significant impact not only on the health and well- being of those affected but also on their families, friends and the communities they live in. At the same time, communities contain a wide range of resources that can be used to promote mental health and to support the recovery of people with mental health conditions”. Therefore, the mhGAP-Community Toolkit was developed in line with the expansion of the mental health services beyond the primary health care with the following recommendations:

• Highlighting the opportunities that exist within communities to promote mental health, prevent mental health conditions and expand access to mental health services;
• Providing guidance on how to identify local mental health needs and match them with activities that build on available resources and opportunities while engaging the local community;
• Providing practical tips on delivering mental health activities, programmes and interventions in the community;
• Combatting stigma, discrimination, social exclusion, and human rights abuses that affect people with mental health conditions.

To reduce the existing gap between the needs of the population and the existing resources and to promote the implementation of the mhGAP-Community Toolkit, a virtual training of trainers in the Americas region is proposed, followed by the identification and subsequent training of community agents.

Purpose of the course

The purpose of the course is to help managers and/or those responsible for community programs to identify the mental health needs of the local population and to train the trainers of community service providers in community mental health interventions to respond to these needs.

Learning objectives

The following objectives can be defined:

• Gain an in-depth understanding of the mhGAP – Community Toolkit and develop implementation skills.
• Acquire the methodological skills (exposition of content, role play, case studies, modeling, group work, etc.) and pedagogical skills to conduct a training course for professionals who are not specialists in community mental health.
• Acquire skills to conduct follow-up and provide supervision of training courses and community mental health interventions proposed by mhGAP-Community Toolkit.

Target audience

The course is intended for managers and/or those responsible for community programs with a fundamental role in the training of staff who work with and for the community. Experience in community mental health is desirable.

Course structure and contents

The course is made up of 5 modules:

Module 1: The Basics of Community Mental Health
Module 2: Mental health promotion and prevention of mental health conditions (Axis 1)
Module 3: Provision of community support in mental health (Axis 2)
Module 4: Recovery and rehabilitation in community mental health (Axis 3)
Module 5: Monitoring & Evaluation of community mental health training and intervention initiatives

Introduction
The 2018 report on The Burden of Mental Disorders in the Region of the Americas noted that "mental, specific neurological, and substance use disorders and suicide constitute a subgroup of diseases and conditions that are a major cause of disability and mortality, accounting for one-third of all years lost due to disability (YLDs) and one-fifth of all disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) in the Region of the Americas."

The Comprehensive Mental Health Action Plan (2013-2030) adopted by WHO has among its objectives: "to strengthen leadership and governance for mental health". This is an objective that seeks to reduce the gap between the resources allocated to mental health and the burden of disease. The present course falls within this framework.

Purpose of the course
The general objective of the Management of Mental Health Services virtual course for the Region of the Americas is that participants, involved in the management of health services, acquire the competencies and skills to effectively manage comprehensive and integrated mental health services, focused on the person, with a community perspective, with emphasis on the primary health care strategy, and with a focus on culture, human rights, gender and the fight against stigma. This can be useful for countries to have trained managers for the development of reform processes, modernization and decentralization of mental health systems, and to reduce the gap between the needs of the population and existing resources.

Learning objectives
By the end of the course, students will have improved their ability to:
1. Analyze the mental health situation in their contexts and prioritize relevant information for decision making.
2. Implement a National Plan for Strengthening Community Mental Health Services at the local level, with an intercultural, rights-based, gender-based and anti-stigma approach.
3. To organize mental health services with a community approach.
4. To create a mental health information system.
5. Generate the financial basis for the mental health plan.
6. To design an evaluation and quality control system.

Target audience
Aimed at health and mental health professionals who manage or lead public mental health programs or services in the selected countries and are designated by the health
authorities. Participants will be limited to 48.

Course duration
The course begins on August 24 with a week to familiarize participants with the Virtual Campus tools. Activities begin on August 31 and end on November 27, a total of 13 weeks. The course load is 8 hours per week, i.e. a total of 104 hours.

The course is structured combining synchronous and asynchronous learning modalities. Synchronous sessions will take place on a weekly basis every Wednesday morning from August 31st.

Course structure
The course lasts 13 weeks, plus a previous familiarization period. It consists of 4 modules and a final work.

1. Introductory module
2. Mental health strategy
3. Policy, Plans and Legislation
4. Organization, information systems and financing
5. Evaluation and quality

This edition of the course is only for participants selected by the course coordination.