title: [Virtual Campus of Public Health: six years of human resources education in Mexico].
abstract: This paper discusses the gestation process, implementation methodology, and results obtained from the initiative to use e-learning to train human resources for health, six years after the launch of the Virtual Campus of Public Health of the University of Guadalajara (Mexico); the discussion is framed by Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) standards and practices. This is a special report on the work done by the institutional committee of the Virtual Campus in western Mexico to create an Internet portal that follows the guidelines of the strategic model established by Nodo México and PAHO for the Region of the Americas. This Virtual Campus began its activities in 2007, on the basis of the use of free software and institutional collaboration. Since the initial year of implementation of the node, over 500 health professionals have been trained using virtual courses, the node's educational platform, and a repository of virtual learning resources that are interoperable with other repositories in Mexico and the Region of the Americas. The University of Guadalajara Virtual Campus committee has followed the proposed model as much as possible, thereby achieving most of the goals set in the initial work plan, despite a number of administrative challenges and the difficulty of motivating committee members.
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Salud Pública, Universidad de Guadalajara, Jalisco, México.
authors.forename: Igor
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Ramos Herrera
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Salud Pública, Universidad de Guadalajara, Jalisco, México.
authors.forename: Noé
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Alfaro Alfaro
authors.affiliation: Coordinación General de Tecnologías de la Información, Universidad de Guadalajara, Jalisco, México.
authors.forename: Joel
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Fonseca León
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Salud Pública, Universidad de Guadalajara, Jalisco, México.
authors.forename: Cristóbal
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: García Sandoval
authors.affiliation: Geografía y Ordenación Territorial, Universidad de Guadalajara, Jalisco, México.
authors.forename: Miguel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: González Castañeda
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Salud Pública, Universidad de Guadalajara, Jalisco, México.
authors.forename: María Del Carmen
authors.initials: Mdel C
authors.lastname: López Zermeño
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Salud Pública, Universidad de Guadalajara, Jalisco, México.
authors.forename: Ricardo
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Benítez Morales
mesh_terms: D020375:Education, Distance / Q000458:organization & administration*; D006282:Health Personnel; D006801:Humans; D020407:Internet; D008800:Mexico; D010175:Pan American Health Organization; D011634:Public Health / Q000193:education*; D013192:Staff Development / Q000379:methods*