[Cooperation between Chili and France in management training in the Chilean public health sector]

A cooperation programme launched in 1999 by the Chilean Health Department and the French National College of Public Health (ENSP France) has now been running for four years. Its aim was to create and validate a national scheme for manager and executive training within the Chilean public hospital systems. Developed in partnership with the Public Health National College of Rio de Janeiro (Fondation Oswaldo Cruz) with whom ENSP France has teamed up for 10 years, this cooperation was designed by the Chilean partner as a contribution to the definition and implementation of a national policy on Human Resources which might follow the vast reform of the health system currently underway in the country. The scheme which gained international support is backed by a network of 5 universities (7 in 2004) associated with the Chilean Health Department, in a joint national development project for in-house management training for the management teams already in office. More than 100 manager and senior executives et 150 intermediate executives were thus trained between 2000 and 2003. The present scheme est presently being modified to meet new challenges arising from the need to support important changes occurring in the management of Chilean public hospitals, to give them more independence, while encouraging a network of all carers. The ENSP input concerns a line of transfer of competence in training and teaching engineering for all the Chilean partners involved. A module on know-how development support in 'remote control' open training engineering was added in 2002, resulting in the French ENSP concluding a collaboration agreement with the Université de Technologie de Compiègne (France). Moreover, support for implementing an accreditation scheme for management training for the Chilean health sector is under way, linking both French and Brazilian ENSP. Designed from the start on a regional South Cone/Brazil basis, a new expansion phase will be added to this international programme in 2004 (as regards principles and methods) through a Chilean/French cooperation towards Paraguay.