The 2nd Regular Meeting of RIETS strengthens unity among members and defines a new work plan
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Held on October 9 and 10, 2025, the 2nd Ordinary Meeting of the Ibero-American Network of Health Technician Education (RIETS) was attended in Rio de Janeiro by representatives of institutions from 11 of the 22 countries of the community — Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Paraguay, Peru, Portugal, and Uruguay. In addition, several other institutional representatives followed the meeting via the Zoom platform, including a representative from Mexico, a country that is returning to the network after a period of absence. The Virtual Campus of Public Health of the Pan American Health Organization (VCPH-PAHO/WHO) also participated in the meeting, represented by its coordinator, Gabriel Listovsky, and by consultant Isabel Duré.
On the morning of October 9, the activities took place at the Joaquim Venâncio Polytechnic School of Health (EPSJV/Fiocruz), headquarters of the Network’s Executive Secretariat, where everyone attended the opening session of the event and the seminar “Climate Emergencies and Their Impact on Global Health, National Health Systems, and Technician Training.” Also at the School, participants visited the exhibition “Poli 40 Years: Memories and Struggles of the National and International Reference Center in Professional Health Education,” inaugurated on August 19, 2025, the anniversary of the School’s founding.
The coordinator of International Cooperation at EPSJV/Fiocruz, Carlos Eduardo Colpo Batistella, opened the event by welcoming all participants and recalling part of the history of RIETS, the youngest of the RETS sub-networks. “Four years have passed since the 1st Ordinary Meeting of the Ibero-American Network, held on March 4, 2021. This second meeting brings us into a new moment, with the pains and lessons of the Covid-19 pandemic behind us and with the world immersed in new problems and issues that challenge us as humanity,” Batistella said. He also reiterated that the mission of the networks is to strengthen national health systems, based on the premise that the qualification of workers is a fundamental dimension for implementing public policies that respond to the health needs of the populations of each member country.
Next, Batistella joined the opening panel of the Meeting, inviting Julián Yamil Yunez, coordinator of the Network Registry of the Ibero-American General Secretariat (SEGIB), who participated remotely; Gabriel Listovsky, head of the Virtual Campus of Public Health (VCPH-PAHO/WHO); Luciana Maria de Sousa, from the Department of Health Management and Education (Deges)/Secretariat of Labor and Education Management in Health (Sgtes), representing the Ministry of Health of Brazil; Eduarda Cesse, deputy vice president of Education, Information, and Communication at Fiocruz; and Anamaria Corbo, director of EPSJV.
The opening panel highlights the importance of aligning health technician training with global challenges affecting the world’s population and the planet
“Since its creation, RIETS has proven to be a fundamental actor in the Ibero-American health sphere, strengthened through cooperation, dialogue, and solidarity in facing future challenges. Therefore, on behalf of our team, I would like to express our sincere congratulations for the work that has been carried out,” said Julián Yamil Yunez, who continued with a brief presentation of SEGIB’s work. “The Ibero-American community is made up of 22 countries in Latin America and Europe, united by history, culture, languages, migration, trade, and investment,” he explained. According to him, this union is based on three fundamental principles: horizontality, consensus, and non-exclusion. “In this space, all countries participate on completely equal footing, decisions are made without opposition from any member, and all countries have the right to take part at all levels of dialogue and discussion,” he added. “Since its institutionalization in 1991, the community has developed through various summits and has become consolidated as a geopolitical reality in an internationally recognized space for cooperation,” he stated.
According to Julián, SEGIB acts as a permanent body providing technical, administrative, and institutional support to the community, both at the political level — whose highest authority is the Summit of Heads of State and Government, held every two years — and at the operational level, where it seeks to translate political decisions into concrete action through network cooperation and the participation of organized civil society and the private sector in forums and meetings. “Our view is that results are better when we all work together, and RIETS, by organizing the 1st Ibero-American Meeting on Simulation-Based Education, consolidated its leadership and commitment to this topic. We believe that this cooperation model strengthens coordination among different actors and agents, which can enhance the effectiveness of public policies, ensuring they truly respond to population needs,” he concluded.
Gabriel Listovsky began his remarks by congratulating everyone on behalf of Cristian Morales Fuhrimann, current PAHO representative in Brazil, who was unable to attend. “He asked me specifically to convey his congratulations both for the meeting itself and for the opportunity to strengthen the network cooperation strategy,” he said. “I would also like to greet you on behalf of James Fitzgerald, director of Health Systems and Services at PAHO, reminding you that no health service in our region will be able to overcome the multiplicity of changes and challenges ahead without considering the health workforce and their training,” he added.
Gabriel emphasized the opportunity to reflect on the network and to celebrate the strategic vision it brings concerning health technicians: “The network reinforces the importance of considering the workplace of these technicians, the training opportunities they have, and the challenges they face in order to act as future health workers.” “It is very good to be here at this moment,” he said, wishing everyone an excellent meeting.
Speaking on behalf of the Ministry of Health of Brazil, Luciana Maria de Sousa expressed her pride in taking part in the event. “At the Ministry, we have reflected deeply on technician training, the health technician workforce, and the many challenges we face,” she began. She explained that, in Brazil, the health workforce consists of more than three million professionals, of whom approximately 2.6 million work in the Unified Health System (SUS). Of those working in the SUS, 40% are health technicians. According to her, numerous challenges remain to be discussed and addressed in these 35 years of SUS, one of the main ones being the training of these technicians. “Our technical training in health still takes place mostly in private educational institutions. For this reason, we have discussed extensively how to strengthen technician training in public institutions and in our SUS health schools,” she stated.
“Currently, under Minister Alexandre Padilha’s administration, we have conducted an analysis of the SUS workforce focusing on the needs of the Brazilian population, with the aim of promoting technician training in several strategic areas, including the Alyne Network for Women’s Health, oncology, and oral health,” Luciana explained, also noting that this effort seeks to reduce the waiting times of people seeking care in the health system.
According to Luciana, sharing the expectations present in Brazil may help generate reflections on the situations in different countries, which, despite having distinct realities, share the same willingness and energy to confront the challenges related to health technician training. “Finally, I would like to thank you for the opportunity to be here with you and wish the Network a very productive meeting,” she concluded.
In the following speech, Anamaria Corbo, director of EPSJV/Fiocruz, recalled part of the history of RETS, created in 1996, and the creation of its sub-networks: RETS-CPLP in 2009 and RIETS in 2021. “Starting in 2005, when PAHO/WHO asked EPSJV, as a Collaborating Center, to assume the Executive Secretariat and reactivate the Network, as well as seek a new configuration that would address the specific needs of certain groups of countries,” she explained.
According to Anamaria, when RETS was created in 1996, there were major questions to be answered: Who are these technical workers? What do they do? With whom do they work? What distinguishes a technical worker from one country to another? What is their educational level in each country? How is it possible to develop cooperation in an area with such diversity? “We have worked with a broad conception of what we call a health technician—professionals who often represent the majority of the health workforce in our countries, but who are, unfortunately, still made invisible when major health training strategies are developed,” she highlighted.
She explained that the permanent challenge of the network is to identify these workers and work alongside them, knowing where their professional bodies and associations are located in order to understand their working conditions. “We cannot speak only about training; we must think about the work technicians perform and the conditions under which they do so,” she emphasized. “We must also bring the population into our discussions to understand their needs and guide the training and work of these technicians based on the needs of the population. Today, for example, we are facing an environmental collapse. What can we, as training institutions, do to incorporate the climate discussion into technician education? What is our role in discussions on new technologies, simulation-based education, and the challenges posed by artificial intelligence? Which technical specialties are likely to disappear, and which others need to be created?” she asked.
In Anamaria’s assessment, another fundamental issue that must be addressed is what is currently happening in the world regarding the financing of international cooperation initiatives. “How should we act in a scenario of multilateralism in crisis, lack of funding, and at the same time the possibility of new pandemics due to environmental collapse and health emergencies? How can we prepare to think about processes that transcend national borders in a world where supranational organizations are weakened?” she questioned. “We have been closely following the negotiations of a peace agreement between Hamas and Israel, aimed at ending an unprecedented genocide. And this brings us back to the key word that keeps us from giving up: hope,” Anamaria concluded, wishing everyone excellent work.
The person in charge of closing the opening session was the Deputy Vice President of Education, Communication, and Information at Fiocruz, Eduarda Ángela Pessoa Cesse. According to her, EPSJV welcomes the meeting with great care and affection, in addition to being the ideal place to discuss the training of health technicians. “We cannot fail to mention the strength of a network like this alongside the strength and representativeness that the Polytechnic School has within Fiocruz and Brazil,” Eduarda stated.
Regarding the challenges mentioned earlier, she added: “In what spaces do we need to insert the discussion about technical training in health? In all of them. This discussion is linked to the social, political, economic, and climate crisis we are experiencing, with debates of every nature,” she highlighted. “Our responsibility is toward the training of a huge contingent of workers who help sustain our national health systems and who need to be prepared to face the consequences that this global crisis imposes on the health of individuals and populations,” she emphasized.
With the closing remarks of the opening table concluded, the Seminar “Climate Emergencies and their Impacts on Global Health, National Health Systems, and the Training of Technicians” began, showing that, in the face of the climate collapse we are experiencing, there is no more time to lose. Click here and read the article about the seminar.
A guided visit to the exhibition “Poli 40 Years” closes the morning program of October 9
As noted in the exhibition catalog, “Poli 40 Years: Memories and Struggles of the National and International Reference Center in Professional Health Education” tells a bit of this history built through utopia, rebellion, boldness, determination, democracy, and participation. Developed as part of the celebrations for the School’s 40th anniversary, the exhibition is organized into four sections — here called “Times” — that recount different moments of this trajectory: the “Time of Counter-Hegemonic Struggles” in the 1980s; the “Time of Construction,” from 1985 to 2004; the “Time of Consolidation,” from 2005 to 2025; and the “Future Time,” from 2025 onwards.
The exhibition marks the development of a project for preserving and safeguarding EPSJV’s memories, which sought to identify key memory points of the School, process, organize, and make available the collections that support the 40-year celebration. This initiative constitutes the seed of a future Center for Memory of Work, Education, and Health, which aims to showcase the power of this field of knowledge and practice through recovering history and memory, preserving collections and cultural heritage, and disseminating knowledge on professional health education among managers, teachers, students, and health workers.
These actions are aligned with the Institutional Memory Policy of the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (Fiocruz), which “aims to guide initiatives dedicated to recovering, recording, valuing, and disseminating the memory of the institution and its technical-scientific and administrative units.”
Afternoon of October 9: inputs for developing the new RIETS Work Plan
In the afternoon of October 9, already at Hotel Scorial, with Zoom transmission for members who could not attend in person (see the Meeting Minutes), three presentations were held: “RIETS and RETS-LA: What have RETS and RIETS done? How can we improve our practices?” by Helifrancis Condé Groppo Ruela, representing the Executive Secretariat of the Network; “Virtual Campus of Public Health (VCPH/PAHO): bringing knowledge to the practice of health technicians,” by Gabriel Listovsky, Regional Coordinator of the VCPH, and Isabel Duré, VCPH advisor, who spoke about the project “Strengthening the resilience of health systems: capacity development for health professionals working at the first level of care: health technicians” (PAHO/WHO).
Preliminary results of the “Mapping of technical workers who work in Primary Health Care (PHC) in Latin American countries” were presented by Isabella Koster (EPSJV/Fiocruz) and Gabriel Muntaabski, from the Institute of Technological Education (INET) of Argentina. After the presentations, a discussion on the topics concluded the day's agenda.
Investigating the past to think about the future
Helifrancis began his presentation with a brief explanation about the creation of RIETS as a subnet of RETS and how its work plan replaces the Coordinated Action Plan for Latin America, which emerged when RETS-Unasur was deactivated. He also analyzed various actions carried out by the Network based on the existing work plans, highlighting achievements and points requiring attention from members.
“If we didn’t accomplish everything that was planned, we can see that the result was quite positive. However, we need to invest efforts in expanding and consolidating RIETS. Perhaps it is possible to think of a specific policy or plan for that?” he said.
He also emphasized the need to think of ways to improve the network’s dynamics, updating the Communication Plan to strengthen management and governance within RETS and RIETS.
PAHO/WHO’s VCPH and health technicians
Gabriel Listovsky presented the Virtual Campus of Public Health, highlighting its mission, principles, offered courses, and the importance of continuous training for health professionals in the Americas. “The Virtual Campus aims to develop the capacities of health workers in the Region of the Americas, contributing to the transformation of services and public health practices in the countries.” According to him, the Campus focuses on developing competencies and capacities of health workers. “The principles of the VCPH are aligned with the values of PAHO/WHO: continuing health education as a public good, open and interoperable resources, and collaborative and sustainable management,” he explained.
He noted that the VCPH already has more than 4 million users (4,244,335) and has developed strategies to increase demand among health workers and the interest of countries in working jointly with the VCPH to improve the quality of services offered to populations. “The VCPH has also been considering the possibility of establishing agreements with educational institutions for course recognition. This opportunity for certificate recognition is essential for workers,” he emphasized.
Before concluding, he highlighted aspects such as:
- South-South cooperation and its articulation with national health policies;
- the diversity of courses integrated into training pathways;
- understanding virtuality as a space for collaborative learning;
- the focus on continuing education and dialogue with real problems in health services;
- and the discussion on the use of artificial intelligence in health education.
Isabel Duré, VCPH consultant, presented aspects of the project to strengthen health system resilience through capacity building of health professionals, focusing on the profile and training of health technicians participating in VCPH courses.
According to her, the Virtual Campus experienced significant growth in the number of health technician users between 2018 and 2023: “The number of users increased by 693.71% during that period, with technical users growing from 28,163 in 2018 to 340,088 in December 2023,” she noted.
She explained that the educational profile of users shows that most have university-level education with a wide diversity of fields. “As identified, 51.4% of users have university-level education, 16.3% are technicians, and 10.3% are students. There is also an ‘other’ category representing 13.1% of users,” she detailed. “There is a predominance of young women,” Isabel added. “Eighty percent of users are women, and 66.78% of them are under 40.”
Regarding workplace, Isabel noted that most work in hospitals and health centers, though around 25% have an “unidentified” workplace. They are classified into various occupations, with nursing—both higher-level and technical—being predominant. “There is great difficulty in working with user occupations due to the different titles used. To give you an idea, in a universe of about 340,000 unique users, we have 1,159 different titles,” she emphasized.
She also showed data on geographic distribution, course preferences, certification levels, and more. “The VCPH stood out during the pandemic, with a significant increase in demand and course offerings, but we are working hard to improve the quality and effectiveness of our courses,” she said. “Classifying ‘other’ occupations more accurately, collecting more detailed information to reduce registrations in that category, researching the factors that increase course demand, and strengthening strategic partnerships”—she listed.
Click here for more information on the research.
Understanding the reality of health technicians
EPSJV professor-researcher Isabella Koster presented preliminary results of the mapping of health technicians working in PHC in Latin America. She explained that the study is part of the EPSJV/Fiocruz Program to Promote Scientific and Technological Development in Professional Health Education and also part of the 2024–2028 Work Plan following EPSJV’s redesignation as a WHO Collaborating Center for training these workers. It is also part of the project “Strengthening the resilience of health systems by developing the capacities of PHC technical professionals,” mentioned earlier by Isabel Duré.
In her presentation, Isabella discussed the central objective of the study—to map, analyze, and give visibility to technical health workers in PHC in Latin America—highlighting the need to recognize their strategic importance for national health systems and the current lack of systematized information about this group. “Our research aims to understand who they are,” she explained.
The study is qualitative, exploratory, and covers 20 Latin American countries. “Our methodological path includes a literature and document review and the application of an online questionnaire using the ‘snowball’ technique, with ethics approval in Brazil and from PAHO. We also conducted interviews with representatives of national VCPH nodes,” Isabella detailed.
Finally, she noted that the research aims to analyze factors influencing technicians’ access to VCPH courses to help develop pedagogical and communication strategies that expand this access. She concluded by emphasizing the importance of networked work: “This way of working, which was essential for mobilizing key actors—members of RETS, PAHO/WHO country offices, VCPH nodes, and other regional organizations— is central to strengthening collaboration, promoting the dissemination of results, and supporting policies to value technical health workers.”
In the final presentation of the day, Gabriel Muntaabski (INET–Argentina) presented information from interviews conducted with representatives from various Latin American countries—Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Chile, Ecuador, Guatemala, El Salvador, Mexico, Paraguay, and Peru—which complemented the “snowball” survey responses mentioned by Isabella.
He explained that the analysis was organized into categories considering the use of the PAHO/WHO Virtual Campus, as well as political, health, epidemiological, cultural, professional, technological, and territorial conditions in each country. “From the interview analysis, we identified several important strategies: strengthening national nodes by expanding their territorial reach; increasing dissemination of the VCPH in ministries, training institutions, and community networks; aligning courses with local needs and specific realities; promoting digital literacy and local tutors to expand access and use; and leveraging the VCPH’s free nature to promote equity in health training,” he listed.
According to Gabriel, decentralization and good governance of national nodes are decisive factors for the VCPH's success. “Countries such as Colombia and El Salvador stand out in access to courses due to a combination of ministerial coordination, academic partnerships, and relevant training offerings. In contrast, fragmented institutional contexts, such as in Argentina and Brazil, hinder the continuity and visibility of the VCPH platform,” he added.
Other challenges mentioned include epidemiological conditions, which directly influence course demand, and persistent digital inequalities and cultural barriers. “Even in the face of these challenges, the VCPH shows significant potential to strengthen technical training in health, reduce inequalities, and consolidate regional learning communities,” he affirmed.
The presentations generated important discussions for developing the Work Plan of the network for the next three years.
10 de octubre: día dedicado a la elaboración del plan de trabajo 2026-2028 de RIETS.
The October 10 program began with a brief presentation by Ana Beatriz de Noronha on behalf of the Executive Secretariat of the networks. She spoke about the importance of communication activities within RETS and very briefly presented the Network's website, emphasizing that all members can use the website and social media to disseminate their activities and achievements. “It would be very good if all members helped us keep the website updated,” she reminded. “Communication across all networks follows the RETS Communication Plan approved in 2018, which will be reviewed with members next year,” she explained.
She then began her presentation on the website of the RETS-SIM Initiative, outlining a brief history of the initiative and the website’s development. “Building the website was one of the commitments established in the Rio de Janeiro Declaration on simulation-based education in the training of health technicians, signed on December 5, 2023, by representatives of institutions from nine countries,” the journalist noted. “Our expectation is that by the end of November, the site will already be fully operational for public release,” she said.
Later in the morning, Carlos Batistella reviewed the proposed 2026–2028 Work Plan, which had been sent beforehand to RIETS members, and led a discussion in which participants’ suggestions and proposals were recorded. After lunch, the plan was reviewed again, with a synthesis of the suggestions presented and a new round of discussions.
The Work Plan approved and duly signed by those present (ANNEX 2) constitutes a guiding and supporting instrument for the Network and its members in negotiations to obtain resources to finance its implementation, as well as other projects with international organizations, bilateral agencies, and NGOs. Additionally, the document will also serve the purposes of a Regionalized Action Plan for Latin American RETS members.
At the end of the meeting, the Director of EPSJV, Anamaria D’Andrea Corbo, thanked everyone for their work, highlighted the strategic importance of RIETS and RETS and the commitment to carrying out the technical activities planned in the work plan, and reiterated the school’s commitment to carrying out the duties of the Executive Secretariat of the networks.
