Participants of the first version of the "virtual communication Diploma public health risk "meet in Panama

Panama, September 28, 2011 (PAHO / WHO) - With the objective of exchangingexperiences on the development of the first "virtual communication Diploma in public health risk" and identify a set of strengths and opportunities that contribute to the continuous improvement of this learning experience is held in Panama City a two-day meeting with participants in the cohort 2011.

The opening of the meeting held on 21 September, was chaired by Dr. José Baudilio Jardines, who as coordinator of the Public Health Virtual Campus (VCPH) of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO / WHO), expressed satisfaction with the resultsevident in the different exercises and evaluation of the experience. Dr. Jardines praised the actions of the Diploma coordination has been made to move steadily toward the bestcontent and learning activities in order to ensure the relevance of its educational offeringsto the needs of the region and facilitate the collaborative construction of knowledge one of the fundamental pillars of the educational approach of the VCPH.

The process of review and sharing by the participants, under the guidance of Lic. Bryna Brennan, general coordinator of the Diploma, allowed also to explore the best possibilities for multiplication of this learning experience in countries, to present some of the lines of work that participants in the first version of the Diploma are currently experiencing in their countries, as mobilization of commitment to advance the design of a communication strategy for national public health risks, and review and discuss the terms of reference for risk communicators to integrate teams for rapid response to public health emergencies.

The first version of the Diploma, which ended in September, took place under a virtualmethod from the VCPH tutorial, thanks to an agreement signed between PAHO / WHO and the Universidad del Norte (Colombia), with funding from the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The 2012 version will soon open its calls to receiveapplications from those wishing to be part of the sixty participants who will join the second cohort.

For more information, please contact Lic. Bryna Brennan (brennanb@paho.org), Senior Advisor Risk and Outbreak Communication PAHO / WHO.