Two Decades Shaping Health Leadership in the Americas

Rhonda Sealey-Thomas is Antigua and Barbuda's acting chief medical officer, responsible for overseeing the services delivered in her country's hospitals and health centers.

Mario Rovere is a professor of international health at the University of Buenos Aires and associate coordinator of the university's master's program in public health.

Eugenio Villar Montesinos is coordinator of Pro-Poor Health Policies at the World Health Organization (WHO) in Geneva.

They're all accomplished public health professionals with different backgrounds and interests, but a common thread ties them together: they all honed their skills and knowledge in the PAHO Training Program in International Health.

They are among more than 180 health professionals from 32 countries who have gone through the program since its inception in 1985. This year, the program celebrates its 20th anniversary with a series of events highlighting its role in promoting leadership among young health professionals from PAHO member countries in the Americas.

The kickoff will be a Nov. 29 anniversary celebration that links current and former participants throughout the Americas via webcast and the World Bank's Global Development Learning Network. Discussions will focus on the program's achievements, remaining challenges in leadership development, and new directions for the future.

New leadership

The program seeks to create a "critical mass of trained health leaders capable of advancing the public health agenda in their own countries and at the international level.

To do this, PAHO recruits young health professionals from the Americas who have the potential to be future leaders in their countries, whether in their ministries of health, other government offices, bilateral and multilateral agencies, academic institutions, or non-governmental and voluntary organizations.

During their year at PAHO, the residents, as they are known at headquarters, sharpen their skills, knowledge, and leadership abilities through an intensive work-study program. The program focuses on five macro areas of competence: situational analysis, policy analysis, directing of processes, communication, and cooperation. To ensure a hands on experience, each resident is placed in a PAHO technical unit in his or her field of interest. Working with the unit chief and a designated mentor, the resident devises a work plan in line with the unit's priorities. He or she then works side-by-side with PAHO staff, helping formulate and evaluate technical cooperation projects, performing policy and case analyses, studying best practices, attending technical meetings, and participating in country missions and training workshops. Residents also produce a personal project tying their work at PAHO to larger issues of global public health.

In addition to this technical experience, residents participate in group activities, visiting other international organizations and participating in outside conferences and meetings. They also gain exposure to the diplomatic and political life of PAHO, attending governing body meetings and participating in other activities related to PAHO/WHO governance, policymaking, and programming.

Emerging themes

Charles Godue, chief of PAHO's Human Resources Development unit, which oversees the training program, says it has three main goals: To help each resident build a broader vision of regional and global trends in health and development, to develop their critical and strategic thinking about the challenges their countries face, and to give them a deeper understanding of how international cooperation in health works.

Created in 1985, the training program responded to a call by WHO to develop new health leadership to help boost efforts to achieve the goal of "Health for All. The call was embraced by PAHO's new director at the time, Carlyle Guerra de Macedo, of Brazil. Maria Isabel Rodríguez, now rector of the University of El Salvador, was the program's founding coordinator. She, Macedo, and then chief of Human Resources Development José Roberto Ferreira drew on PAHO's more than 20 years' experience in promoting human resources development in health.

Since its creation two decades ago, the program has evolved along with the field of international health, with increasing consideration of emerging themes such as globalization and economic integration, macro determinants of health, country-to-country cooperation, and global public goods.

Global perspectives

Judging from its graduates, the program has succeeded in its mission to broaden its participants' horizons. In a survey conducted in the mid-1990s, all the respondents (75 percent of past participants) said the program had had a profound impact on their develop ment, both personal and professional.

Sealey Thomas, who attended the program in 2004, says, The program gave me a global perspective with regards to the social determinants of health and global factors that influence health. It also helped me better understand how issues get onto the global health agenda and how they are dealt with.

Pedro Brito, area manager for Strategic Health Development at PAHO and a former program resident, notes: "When I go to important international meetings in the region, I often run into four or five people who are alumni of the PAHO training program.

Yet the program has managed to avoid contributing to "brain drain" in the region. Some graduates have gone on to careers in PAHO/WHO and other international agencies, but the majority have returned to their countries after the program to pursue their careers.

Today the training program is shaping itself to address new challenges facing the Americas and its leaders in public health.

"Health leaders in our region need to have a clear understanding of how global developments impact on their own countries' health and particularly on inequities, says PAHO Director Mirta Roses. "Everything we want to achieve—from the MDGs to 3 by 5 and immunization—requires leaders who understand the global context and how to influence the global determinants of health.

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Applying to the Program

The PAHO Training Program in International Health accepts approximately 10 new participants each year. Each applicant must have a master's degree or its equivalent in public health or a related field and a minimum of two years' work experience in public health. All applicants must be 35 years old or younger, a resident of a PAHO member country, and able to communicate in both English and Spanish. Participants receive a monthly stipend and transportation to and from their country of origin. More information and application forms can be found here.