On April 22, 2024, the PAHO Regional Program on Bioethics launched a virtual course in Spanish on public health ethics, which is geared toward public health authorities and professionals in the Region of the Americas, including PAHO personnel.
Developed as part of technical cooperation to Puerto Rico, this course aims to strengthen capacities to identify, analyze, and address ethical challenges in public health. After an introduction to public health ethics, the course covers key topics such as ethics in surveillance and ethical decision-making in the context of public health emergencies.
Durante el pasado bienio, el Programa Regional de Bioética puso a disposición de la Oficina de Ética Gubernamental del Gobierno de Puerto Rico tres cursos en línea sobre ética de la salud pública que han sido tomados más de 30,000 veces por funcionarios puertorriqueños.
Developed as part of technical cooperation to Puerto Rico, this course aims to strengthen capacities to identify, analyze, and address ethical challenges in public health. After an introduction to public health ethics, the course covers key topics such as ethics in surveillance and ethical decision-making in the context of public health emergencies.
During the past biennium, the Regional Bioethics Program made available to the Office of Government Ethics of the Government of Puerto Rico three online courses on public health ethics that have been taken more than 30,000 times by Puerto Rican officials.
Following that achievement, the Regional Bioethics Program decided to expand the content, delve into some key topics, and group the work into a single course. This new version is more dynamic and student-friendly. Some of the ethical challenges highlighted are prominent in Puerto Rico but relevant across the Americas.
“It is the first comprehensive public health ethics course that is available online in Spanish. There is only one similar ethics course available in English. In this way, we are fulfilling the mandate of Member States to support the systematic integration of ethics in health work. To achieve this, the ability to analyze the ethical challenges that are prominent in public health is essential. The course includes practical cases for discussion and other interactive mechanisms that seek to develop this skill,” highlighted Carla Saenz, PAHO’s Regional Bioethics Advisor.
The course is available on the PAHO Virtual Campus of Public Health (CVSP), Puerto Rico Node, to reach a greater number of participants, including authorities and public health workers in Puerto Rico and across the entire Americas Region.
This free, self-paced course lasts 7 hours and is open to the public. It has no set deadlines, allowing participants to choose when and how to complete it at their convenience.
To enroll, you must create an account or log in to CVSP when entering the course (Only in Spanish).
Participants will receive a PAHO-issued certificate upon completing the course. The course is accredited by the Puerto Rican Government. Employees who wish to receive government ethics credits for the course can find more information here.
