Washington DC, 17 December 2024 (PAHO)- The Pan American Health Organization's (PAHO) Virtual Campus for Public Health (VCPH) ends 2024 with figures that consolidate its role as a key educational platform for strengthening the capacities and competencies of health personnel in the Region of the Americas.
“We concluded a year of great growth, fulfilling our goal of offering inclusive, equitable and quality education to health personnel in the region,” said Gabriel Listovsky, head of the Virtual Campus of Public Health Special Program.
Exceeding 3.5 million users from countries around the world, this year the Virtual Campus launched 47 self-learning courses. Throughout 2024, more than one million participants enrolled in at least one course. A participant or Campus user can enroll in more than one course*.
In addition, five tutored courses and three self-study courses were launched per cohort. Two management spaces were created, which are collaborative work areas for discussion and analysis where a group of people address a specific topic.
Among the courses with the highest participation, the following stand out:
- Diagnosis and clinical management of dengue fever, with 257,002 enrollments.
- Basic precautions for hand hygiene, with 98,381 enrollments.
- Accurate automatic blood pressure measurement, with 88,813 enrollments.
- Health promotion, with 47,023 enrollments.
- Fundamentals of palliative care, with 46,845 enrollments.
The course with the highest completion rate was Basic hand hygiene precautions, with 92.9% of participants obtaining their certificate of completion. It was followed by:
- Accurate automatic blood pressure measurement (HEARTS): 91.8% certifications.
- Malaria elimination: 87.4%.
- Introduction to Essential Public Health Functions (EPHF) renewed: 86.7%.
- Food handler's manual: 83%.
Looking to the future, Gabriel Listovsky stressed that the Virtual Campus “will seek to further promote academic excellence and train health personnel to respond to the needs of the population, leaving no one behind.”
To see the complete catalog and become part of PAHO's Virtual Campus, click here.
*The figure of 3.5 million users refers to the number accumulated since 2014, while the rest of the data mentioned in this note corresponds to the period between January 1 and October 31, 2024.
