Introduction
The Health Promoting Schools Strategy (HPS) has a long history and important implementation experiences in the Latin American and Caribbean Region. The objective has been to foster the leading role of educational institutions in promoting the health and well-being of all their members through planned, systematic, participatory, intersectoral, multidimensional and articulated work with other community institutions (health services, local governments, and other organizations) and with the necessary support from subnational, national and regional institutions.
Being a Health Promoting School implies an institutional decision and a commitment to continually review and rethink the daily work of the school to provide physical and socioemotional conditions that allow students, teachers and families to choose behaviors and practices in favor of their overall health and that of their communities.
There is extensive evidence demonstrating the benefits of implementing the Health Promoting Schools initiative, not only to improve the overall health outcomes of the educational community, but also to improve learning outcomes.
Context
Based on the global standards and their indicators launched by WHO and UNESCO in 2021, PAHO has developed the Guide and Virtual Course Making Every School in the Americas a Health-Promoting School with the aim of operationalizing these global standards to be implemented in educational institutions in our Region and helping them to become HPS.
Despite the history and evidence on the HPS Strategy, the traditional school health approach still prevails in the Region. To overcome this approach and move towards a more comprehensive one, PAHO has developed the virtual course and the guide Making Every School in the Americas a Health-Promoting School, through a work based on the extensive experience of the countries of the Region, with the collaboration of various experts, PAHO/WHO collaborating centers and other agencies, and within the framework of the Strategy and Plan of Action on Health Promotion in the Context of the Sustainable Development Goals 2019-2030.
Participation
- DATE: Wednesday, 13 November 2024
- PARTICIPATION: ZOOM (with register)
- TIME: 10:00am - 11:30 (EDT, Washington, Ottawa, Panama, Ecuador, Colombia)
- OTHER TIME ZONES: 9:00am (Costa Rica), 11:00am (Bolivia), 12:00am (Argentina, Brasilia, Paraguay, Uruguay)
Agenda
Moment
Opening and welcoming remarks
Dr. Jarbas Barbosa, PAHO Director
Introduction: Health Promoting Schools (HPS) Strategy
Dra. Gerry Eijkemans, Director of the Department of Social and Environmental Determinants for Health Equity, PAHO
Panel: Government Perspective
Victor Atallah, Minister, Ministry of Public Health, Dominican Republic
Kátia Maria Barreto Souto, General Coordinator of Equity and Social Determinants of Health, Department of Prevention and Health Promotion, Secretariat of Primary Health Care, Brazil
Gustavo Montañez, General Director of Health Promotion, Ministry of Public Health and Social Welfare, Paraguay
Presentation of the virtual Course and Guide Making Every School of the Americas a Health Promoting School
Pilar Campos, regional advisor on Health Promotion, PAHO
Challenges and opportunities: voices and experiences
Sonja Caffe, regional advisor on Adolescent Health, PAHO
Yanina Balcoff, Director of Kindergarten No. 118, Cipolletti, Río Negro, Argentina
Mariela Rochón, coordinator of the Sol Mapu project, Cipolletti, Río Negro, Argentina
Blanca Patricia Mantilla Uribe, Director of the Proinapsa Institute. PAHO/WHO collaborating centre, Colombia
Roberto Varela, doctor at the Basic Assistance Unit nº 8, Salto, Uruguay.
MODERATES: Karina Cimmino, consultant on HPS
Closing remarks
Dr. Orielle Solar, head of unit, Health Promotion and Social Determinants of Health, PAHO