Washington D.C., 10 October 2025 (PAHO) — The Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) participated in the 2nd Ordinary Meeting of the Ibero-American Network of Education of Health Technicians (RIETS), held on October 9–10 at the Joaquim Venâncio Polytechnic School of Health (EPSJV/Fiocruz) in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
The meeting brought together representatives from technical education institutions, ministries of health, and international organizations from Latin America, Spain and Portugal, with the aim of strengthening collaborative actions in the training of health technicians and approving the 2026–2028 RIETS Work Plan.
Representing PAHO, Gabriel Listovsky, Head of the Virtual Campus for Public Health (VCPH) Program, participated in the opening session and presented the experience of the Virtual Campus in training and strengthening the competencies of health technicians across the Region of the Americas. Isabel Duré, international consultant of the Virtual Campus, presented “presented the results of the study “Profile of health technicians who are users of the VCPH,” which is part of the project “Mapping of health technicians working in primary health care in Latin American countries,” a joint study conducted by PAHO and EPSJV/Fiocruz with support from the Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation (AECID).
The new 2026–2028 RIETS Work Plan, approved in the meeting, includes a specific component aimed at strengthening collaboration with PAHO’s Virtual Campus for Public Health, through actions that promote the dissemination of VCPH educational offerings for health technicians—particularly those working in rural and underserved areas—, collaboration in the design of virtual training opportunities, and the exchange of experiences in simulation-based education and other innovative approaches.
These actions reinforce PAHO’s commitment to the continuous training of health technicians as a key element for strengthening health systems based on primary health care and advancing towards universal health in the Americas.
