Upon completion of this lesson, you will be able to identify some of the most vulnerable groups in the Americas; understand how UN and OAS human rights instruments protect health and other related human rights in practice; understand why the enjoyment of the right to health is indispensable for the exercise of other human rights; understand why a greater fulfillment of human rights contributes to the enjoyment of health and wellbeing; and become familiar with practical applications for accomplishing the Regional Expected Results on human rights based approaches to health within PAHO’s Secretariat and at national, regional, and global levels in a manner consistent with PAHO strategic plan.

- Analyze public policies and their impact on equity; - Analyze PHC’s contribution to the reduction of inequities; - Analyze the different approaches and challenges for reducing inequities; - Identify the barriers of access to health care; - Recognize health as a right.

- Recognize the structural elements of PHC renewal based on a public health framework, as well as necessary competencies for their attainment; - Participate in a review process on the progress and challenges in the practice of PHC renewal in the national and international context; - Design an intervention proposal for PHC renewal within the scope of the participant’s workplace.

- Review the historical process and impact of PHC at the national and international levels; - Identify the new scenarios and critical factors associated with PHC renewal; - Analyze the values and principles of PHC renewal.

- Identify the central aspects that define the comprehensive PHC approach; - Analyze the integration of health services networks in each participant’s country; - Analyze the competencies of local PHC teams and the relationship with the organization of services and requirements in staff training.

- Identify the elements for managing change toward PHC renewal; - Analyze the specific attributes of PHC renewal that guide health system organization; - Examine the different strategies for quality improvement in PHC-based health systems.

- Become familiar with the rationale of the social determinants of health (SDH) and their potential for designing public policies, taking WHO and PAHO work proposals into consideration; - Identify the principles of social justice, health equity, human rights and their relationship as key values for SDH interventions; - Identify structural and intermediary mechanisms underlying health inequities in population groups and territories, as a basis for public policy actions; - Recognize the need for a comprehensive, intersectoral and participatory approach towards understanding and taking actions on SDH.

Through this course, the Gender, Ethnicity and Health Office of PAHO/WHO seeks to promote an analysis of the health situation and access to services with proper attention given to differences in health indicators that reveal unfavorable circumstances faced by indigenous people, Afro-descendants, Romani people and migrants. Adopting an ethnic approach will create opportunities to redesign health program, plans and policies, with the aim to overcome unjust social conditions that affect those people within a framework that promote: social equity, social participation and respect for human rights.

This module you will learn how to:
understand ethnicity as a social health determinant; identify the mechanisms of exclusion; identify and locate indigenous people afro-descendants, Romani people, migrants on the American continent; identify poverty and health disparities affecting these populations in the region.

This module you will learn how to:
identify the tools to be considered when making a health analysis with an ethnic approach; distinguish the basic methodological tools use to carry out an appropriate health analysis with an ethnic approach; value the importance of the health analysis with an ethnic approach in health.