Washington DC, 7 March 2025 (PAHO) - The Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) held the validation workshop of the tool “Support to the organization and composition of interprofessional teams (EqIPS in its acronym in Spanish) in primary health care (PHC)”, from 4-6 March, in Tegucigalpa, Honduras.
The objective of the workshop was to validate the EqIPS tool and analyze the existing conditions in Honduras for the implementation of interprofessional teams at the first level of care. This event was attended by authorities and delegates from the central level of the Ministry of Health and three health regions of Honduras, representatives of the Human Resources for Health Unit of the Department of Health Systems and Services and the PAHO office in Honduras.
Dr. Benjamín Puertas, chief of the Human Resources for Health Unit, emphasized that “the implementation of the EqIPS tool is a strategy to achieve resilient health systems by strengthening the response capacity, with emphasis on the first level of care, integrated care and care centered on people and communities, through collaborative work aimed at achieving health goals. The validation of this tool in Honduras will allow us to adjust it and make it available to the countries of the Region of the Americas”.
The activity of validation and application of the EqIPS tool included virtual sessions and an in-person workshop, with the participation of the general director and heads of departments of the integrated networks, heads of first and second level of care departments, the standardization direction, the human resources for health direction, the municipal health chief, family health promoters, assistant care directors and chief nursing officers.
“Interprofessional health teams are extremely important, it is what determines the capacity of the health system to respond to the needs of the population. Validating the tool for the first time in Honduras is a reflection of the authorities' commitment to universal access and universal health coverage,” said Eng. Ana Emilia Solís Ortega, PAHO/WHO Honduras representative.
“We have had PAHO's support for significant advances in the composition, implementation and training of family health teams. Health personnel are the basis of the health system and their functioning is proportional to the functioning of the health system. This workshop will contribute to the strengthening of the health system,” said Dr. Oscar Paredes, director of integrated health networks of the Ministry of Health of Honduras.
With the validation of the EqIPS tool, PAHO reaffirms its commitment and technical cooperation actions to strengthen and implement interprofessional health teams in the Region of the Americas. This activity was supported with funding from the Universal Health Coverage (UHC) Partnership.
