Introduction
M. L. Vázquez Navarrete

The concept of health as a human right, and realizing it, is one of the major challenges of the 21^st century. This explains the need, amongst others, to guarantee equitable access to quality, sustainable health services for everyone.

Commissioned by the German Federal Government, the Health Division of InWEnt, Capacity Building International, supports programs aimed at training and dialogue for technical and managerial health personnel from different developing countries. In fulfilment of this mission, over ten years, InWEnt supported a health personnel training program in Latin America.

 
 

This program, the fruit of the influences of the European and Latin American applied epidemiology courses, which was originally entitled “Teaching Program for Health Managers” (PEAS), started up simultaneously in three countries: Colombia, Ecuador and Peru.

Since its outset, it took on a specific structure in accordance with the needs and capacities identified in each context, and it evolved differently in each country, whilst always retaining its essential features: the philosophy, the teaching approach and the fundamental syllabus contents.