1st Virtual Meeting of RETS - Latin America [1]

Updated: 06/28/2022

1st Virtual Meeting of the International Network of Health Technicians Education (RETS) - Latin America

The role of health technicians in times of the Covid-19 pandemic

On Friday, May 22, 2020, RETS held its first virtual meeting with Latin American member countries. The opening of the meeting included the speech of the head of the Human Resources Unit of PAHO/WHO, Fernando Menezes, the representative of the Center for International Relations in Health of the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (Cris/Fiocruz) Sebastian Tobar and the director of the Polytechnic School of Health Joaquim Venâncio, Anakeila Stauffer.

The meeting was attended by approximately 45 people, including representatives from member institutions and partner institutions such as the Network of Schools and Training Centers in Public Health in Latin America (RESP), the Regional Network for Interprofessional Education of the Americas (REIP) and the Lisbon School of Health Technology (ESTsL-Portugal).

The main objective of the meeting was to discuss the role of health technicians in times of pandemic. Based on some questions sent by the Executive Secretariat, the countries present - Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Paraguay, Peru, Portugal, and Uruguay - showed an overview of their reality in terms of national health systems strategies and the training and work of health technicians and technologists.

The meeting showed the importance and the role of RETS in the area of health technicians training in the region and made it possible to exchange and debate strategies in terms of health care for technicians in training; virtual teaching strategies; the role of national health systems in addressing the pandemic; planning for the future return of face-to-face activities, among others.

The agenda will continue with the discussions of a special issue of Revista RETS with the themes presented at the meeting and the possibilities of translation and exchange of teaching materials among members of the network.