La Paz, September 25, 2023 (PAHO)- With the aim of providing professionals in the Expanded Immunization Program PAI with knowledge about the requirements of the standards for the correct distribution, quality systems and logistics of pharmaceutical products, as well as vaccines, The Ministry of Health and Sports (MSyD) together with the Universidad Si Mayor de San Andrés (UMSA), with the support of the Pan American Health Organization/World Health Organization (PAHO/WHO) and financing from the Canadian government, launched the diploma in Drug Logistics and Vaccines.
Within the framework of the PAHO/WHO Technical Cooperation Plan 2023 with the Expanded EPI Immunization Program of MSyD, the investment to be made is 26,353 US dollars, which is aimed at funding the tuition and registration of 36 students.
In a special event, attended by the Minister of Health and Sports, María Renée Castro; the rector of UMSA, Oscar Heredia Vargas; the representative of PAHO/WHO in Bolivia, Dr. Alma Morales Salinas; the dean of the Faculty of Engineering at UMSA, Eng. Martín Mayori, university authorities, the PAI and the MSyD, the postgraduate course was launched. The opportunity is also favorable for the MSyD and the UMSA to seal an inter-institutional cooperation agreement to strengthen the training of human resources in health with solid immunization practices.
In specific words, emphasized by Dr. Morales the importance of training human talent. He said that “… in order for countries to develop and strengthen a first level of care that is able to respond to the health needs of the population, we need the training of human resources involved in management, provision and financing models. the country will decide.”
Therefore, he celebrated the signing of the agreement between UMSA and the Ministry of Health and Sports for the training of professionals with emphasis on vaccinations. “I call it the key link,” he said. And he added: “Vaccination along with breastfeeding continues to be one of the most cost-effective strategies available in the world of public health.”
For his part, Rector Heredia stated that “if human talent is strengthened, the university will feel recognized as a strategic factor in the country, because human resources are the ones that will work in accordance with the development of technological transfer and understanding technology.” like the way. to do things, knowledge, experience.”
Heredia emphasized that “this type of alliance in the field of health allows us to integrate education and training policies, in different areas… This means that as a university we regain the trilogy that says that State, university, society. “We as a university receive resources from the people of Bolivia and train professionals who then put them at the service of the Bolivian people.”
For the diploma, PAHO, UMSA and PAI, relying on the MSyD, work collectively to build the curricular design aimed at personnel involved in the PAI logistics area at national and departmental levels. The diploma is organized into modules: Logistics and medical supply chain; Supply logistics; transportation management; Warehouse management; Distribution logistics; and Safety at work.
The diploma lasts 6 months, starting this September and ending in April 2024, with 920 academic hours in virtual mode, with synchronous hours through videoconferences for students and teachers and asynchronous hours in work on the Moodle platform.
Minister Castro stated that “this diploma will give another skill, another knowledge to doctors and nursing graduates who are in health networks and who fight every day on the issue of vaccination.” He added that “this training should be continuous, updated, and should allow health workers to respond to any type of emergency, not only small outbreaks like whooping cough, but to think about responding in the future pandemics.”
The objectives of the diploma are to analyze the basic concepts of inventory theory, examine control methods, the cost and economic impact of inventories; analysis of inventory management techniques, information sites and policies; deepen knowledge of supply and purchase management activities, and develop skills in using organizational and planning tools for supply and purchase systems; providing professionals with the key elements that characterize modern logistics, as a way to increase competitiveness.
It also seeks to ensure that staff are aware of strategies and tactics to achieve logistical efficiency for its application in PAI; providing professionals with essential elements for the application and implementation of measures for the optimal circulation of the flow of materials, information and values in the transformation process, from the acquisition of production factors to delivery of the finished product to distribution; and, finally, deepen the knowledge of management and distribution activities, and develop skills in the use of tools for the organization and planning of distribution systems.
The Ministry and the Universidad Mayor de San Andrés (UMSA) collaborate within the framework of training and strengthening the competencies of human health resources. In 2022, there will be a standard for the development of the Diploma in Management and Administration of Expanded Immunization Program.(PAI) with technical and financial collaboration with PAHO/WHO and UNICEF. This diploma has benefited nearly 250 health professionals at the national level.
In this sense, in the fourth quarter of 2022, PAI together with PAHO/WHO started negotiations with the Industrial Research Institute, relying on the Industrial Engineering Career of the UMSA Faculty of Engineering, for this new postgraduate course aimed at development of the logistical management of vaccines, where it is intended to deepen and update the knowledge and skills of the personnel who manage the logistics area of the Departmental Health Services and the National PAI.
