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What is PALTEX?
PALTEX (The Expanded Textbook and Instructional Materials Program) is a joint technical program of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) and the Pan American Health and Education Foundation (PAHEF), a US nonprofit organization that closely cooperates with PAHO in several activities. Over a 30-year period, PALTEX has provided nearly 4 million medical and health science books and basic diagnostic instruments to students and health workers at over 600 institutions in 20 Latin American and Caribbean countries. PALTEX is a mechanism to provide high-quality instructional materials at prices that represent a real incentive for students and health workers to use them.
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What type of publications does PALTEX provide?
PALTEX serves the needs not only of medical students, but also of a wide range of professional health disciplines, including nursing, dentistry, veterinary medicine, nutrition and environmental health. It provides print materials, and basic diagnostic instruments required for hands-on student practice.
In addition to distributing textbooks for professionals, PALTEX publishes and distributes manuals and other materials focused on the needs of health services personnel at all levels of the health system. PALTEX meets the urgent need for updating and improvement of health workers' skills by providing materials especially designed for programs of continuing education.
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How does PALTEX select its publications?
PALTEX selects its textbooks from the principal commercial publishers that publish subjects related to the Health Sciences. These are thoroughly evaluated by technical experts at PAHO and in the field regarding enrollments, curricula, course content, teaching methodology, special materials needs, and textbook preferences, so that they meet the requirements of study of the participating schools and universities.
The practical manuals that are published by PALTEX for technicians and auxiliary workers are selected on the basis of the current program of work and the strategic orientations of PAHO, emphasizing a primary health care strategy.
Its Serie PALTEX para Técnicos Medios y Auxiliares consists of practical manuals for front-line health workers, including management of acute respiratory illness, care of mothers and infants, community health education, principles of epidemiology for disease control, basic laboratory techniques, and many others.
The Serie PALTEX para Ejecutores de Programas de Salud is a collection of manuals for in-service professionals responsible for project planning and execution, covering social aspects of health and planning of community health programs.
The program also publishes the Serie PALTEX Salud y Sociedad 2000, covering the relationship between social realities and the health status of the population, and it is for medical, law, sociology students and health professionals.
In addition to these three series, PALTEX also seeks out and distributes materials of public health interest written and/or published by other sources, primarily in the US, Latin America, and Spain, including commercial and university publishers, specialized institutes, and non-governmental organizations. Selected PAHO publications, including materials produced by the Publications and Editorial Services Office and the individual technical programs, are also distributed through the PALTEX system.
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How does PALTEX function?
PALTEX is a collaborative effort of several agencies: PAHO, PAHEF, PAHO member governments, publishing houses, and the universities and other institutions that train or employ health workers. Program operations are financed by a loan from the Inter-American Development Bank.
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How can an institution become a partner in the PALTEX system?
Two mechanisms of participation are available to interested accredited teaching institutions: direct purchase, or sales on consignment. In the first, the institution simply pays for the materials upon receipt; special quantity discounts are sometimes available. The second requires the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding with PAHO, in which the institution agrees to receive and sell stocks of materials on consignment, assuming the cost and responsibility of the local sales operation.
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Who can purchase PALTEX material?
Medical students and health workers from public and private institutions are the primary users of the PALTEX Program. PALTEX service centers are available in more than 600 participating institutions throughout Latin America, and in the offices of PAHO in 18 countries. In many countries commercial bookstores also offer a selection of manuals or books that are part of the PALTEX self-published series or are published as the intellectual property of PAHO.
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To obtain additional information or to order a publication please refer to PAHO's Country Offices.
Send your comments to:
Pan American Health Organization
Pan American Health and Education Foundation
PALTEX
525 23th Street N.W.
Washington, D.C., 20037, U.S.A.
Tel: [202] 974 - 3451 Fax: [202] 974 - 3658
E-mail: paltex@paho.org