The concern of the people and the government about tobacco is increasingly clear. This is evidenced by the set of laws that Brazil has on the subject. But, what is the use of a wide legislation without an entity to enforce compliance? In view of that, the National Health Surveillance Agency (ANVISA) entered into a partnership with the National School of Public Health Sergio Arouca (ENSP/Fiocruz) and the Open University of the Brazilian Public Health System (UNA-SUS) to develop a set of practices to train its inspectors on compliance with the law on banning smoking indoors and advertising at points of sale. This was the start of the project “Training of Health Inspectors for Tobacco Control in Brazil”, supported byFiotec.
The current coordinator of the project, Silvana Rubano, explained that the purpose of the project is to enable the inspectors of Anvisa across the country to have the necessary expertise to check compliance with the laws. "The idea is that students be able to identify, in the environments where they control, things that are not in accordance with the law, not to punish, but to guide", she explained. "It is prohibited to sell tobacco to a minor, but many traders and even inspectors claim not to know this, stating that ‘I used to light a cigarette for my grandfather when I was younger.' It is this kind of common sense that needs to be demystified", he said.
The course
The idea of doing a distance learning course (EAD) was conceived by Anvisa itself, which seeks penetration into a larger number of people. "Online course was a great idea conceived by ANVISA. They do regular training, but there is a high turnover of inspectors and the laws are updated every day. As Brazil is a country with many specificities and creating a standard is very difficult, the course is being organized in a different way fromnormal EADs", said Silvana.
The course will consist of five modules, an introductory module and four specific modules. Instead of tutors, who usually compose the staff of EAD, four specialized monitors will be chosen, one for each module, who will be responsible for assisting in the comprehension of the content.
The idea is that in the first module a presentation on tobacco control in the world be held, for inspectors to understand their role in the current scenario. "Inspectors have to be recognized as a health promoters and realize how their work makes the difference. The reduction of cardiovascular and respiratory diseases is very clear nowadays, mainly due to tobacco control policies. It is important that inspectors be aware that their work is part of it", said the coordinator.
Start of the course
All content created by the course authors have already been sent to the productionteam of EAD/ENSP, which includes the participation of educators and designers and other professionals, so they can turn it into interactive and play materials. Upon completion of this work, the course will be submitted to a validation. "We will select inspectors of municipalities from different regions of Brazil for control purposes, identifying if the language and content are appropriate so as to know if we chose a good path or not," said Silvana.
The platform is expected to be launched in May and classes should begin in August. Initially the course will be composed of one thousand inspectors, divided into two groups of 500. “This course was carefully prepared. After the training is completed, we will evaluate the course to check its efficiency. Only then will we expand it and continue its implementation”, said the coordinator.
Support from Fiotec
Silvana highlighted the importance of the partnership with Fiotecfor the project to be executed. "It's a very cool project andFiotec has a key role in its development, because if it wasn’t for the institution’s partnership with Union (The International Union Against Tuberculosis and LungDisease), we would surely lose a lot of time at the risk of facing difficulties and high expenses. We have to emphasize its importance", she added.
