During the biennium, MINSAL assumed leadership of its consultative round table for primary health care, establishing an innovative mechanism for strategic coordination promoted through the Alliance for Primary Health Care in the Americas, together with PAHO, the Inter-American Development Bank, and the World Bank.
PAHO provided specialized technical cooperation for the conceptualization and development of the plan for the round table, ensuring its alignment with the national health plan and MINSAL’s institutional strategic plan. This platform made it possible to harmonize the technical and financial resources of international cooperation, reduce the fragmentation of interventions, and promote programmatic complementarity, with primary health care (PHC) positioned as the backbone of the health system.
The availability of a skilled health workforce remains key to the delivery of quality PHC services. In this regard, El Salvador consolidated the sustained strengthening of its health workforce through the strategic use of the country node of the PAHO Virtual Campus for Public Health (VCPH), with technical support from PAHO. The country ranked first in usage of the VCPH in the Region (2138 participants per 100 000 inhabitants), reflecting structural progress in the continuous education of health personnel.
These achievements strengthen national stewardship and governance, optimize the use of resources, and lay a solid foundation for the implementation of structural reforms aimed at universal health. PAHO’s contribution as a technical facilitator and neutral convener was instrumental in consolidating the Consultative Roundtable, which represents an innovation in joint planning and an important step toward more integrated, efficient, and sustainable health systems.
Photo caption: El Salvador establishes a Consultative Roundtable as part of the Alliance for Primary Health Care in the Americas.