In November, Fiotec welcomed people to its headquarters for a workshop to mark the 15th anniversary of the Health Management Specialization Course at the Sergio Arouca National School of Public Health (ENSP/FIOCRUZ). Throughout the 9th, coordinators, tutors, learning advisors, and pedagogical advisors discussed improvements to the content offered by the course, so as to keep it up to date and connected to the new challenges in the management of health systems and services.
"The debates [on November 9] reflected the level of maturity and the good learning curve that we have achieved over these 15 years," commented Fiotec's technical director, Vanessa Costa, who has also worked on the coordination team and as a content designer for the training since the beginning of the project. She says that the course was first offered in 2008, having received support from Fiotec, in a partnership with the Open University of Brazil, a program run by Capes/MEC. "Fiotec's work is fundamental in supporting the preparation of the teaching materials used and in organizing the classroom activities. Most of them take place in small municipalities, such as Breves, on the island of Marajó, Xapuri/AC, Juazeiro da Bahia, and Olho d'Água das Flores/AL, for example."
The Health Management Specialization Course reaches 2023 with more than 2,000 health workers trained all over Brazil, and with a low drop-out rate. To complete the training, each professional needs to conduct an analysis of their day-to-day work and carry out concrete improvements in these environments. Therefore, the content offered contributes to the reorientation of health practices and work relations, strengthening the Unified Health System (SUS) as a civilizing project.
Today, the training also includes workers who work in areas with little or no specialization available, and who don't have the means to attend face-to-face classes. "We've heard testimonies like 'I never imagined I'd be able to do a Fiocruz course, it's a dream'. It is very gratifying to follow the improvement of this training, the evolution of its content, and the processes of pedagogical interaction over these years," celebrates Vanessa.
Training that democratizes health education
In 2008, when it was first offered, the Health Management Specialization Course was designed in online mode, aiming to reach both the professionals who work in the planning and scheduling of actions and those who evaluate health care services and practices throughout Brazil.
Despite the distrust that existed about the quality of training offered in this format at the time, the work of Antônio Ivo de Carvalho and his team was decisive for the implementation of this and many other distance learning courses offered by ENSP/FIOCRUZ. Over the years, health workers from all over Brazil have been given access to quality training in line with their work and life circumstances. Today, there are more than 68,000 professionals trained in online courses developed by ENSP, in all Brazilian states and five other countries.
