The event, held in Mexico City, brought together professionals, researchers, and representatives of organizations from various countries to exchange experiences and reflect on the current challenges of health promotion, education, and psychosocial well-being in rural and migrant communities.
The Second International Congress of the Network for Health Promotion, Education, and Psychosocial Well-being in Rural and Migrant Communities (RED CORYMI), held under the theme “40 Years Since the Ottawa Charter,” served as an international academic forum where the Proinapsa Institute of the Industrial University of Santander (UIS) played a prominent role through its director, Blanca Patricia Mantilla Uribe, who was invited as a keynote speaker and participated in the thematic track “Critical Reinterpretations of Health Promotion,” sharing experiences and contributions developed by the Institute in the field of health promotion and intersectoral work.
During her presentation, the professor shared experiences related to best practices in health promotion and intersectoral collaboration in schools. Referring to this participation, the director of Proinapsa UIS emphasized: “I believe the key contribution was disseminating the 10 best practices for health promotion and the 11 best practices for intersectoral collaboration in schools that we have identified through a joint effort with PAHO/WHO and the Latin American Network of Health-Promoting Schools (RLEPS).”
The Congress also facilitated exchanges with members of the CORYMI Network and with coordinators from the subregions of the International Union for Health Promotion and Health Education (UIPES), particularly from Brazil, Argentina, Mexico, and Colombia. This diversity of experiences made it possible to recognize different perspectives and strategies aimed at addressing community needs and strengthening health promotion efforts through participatory, community-based, intercultural, and intersectoral approaches.
For Blanca Patricia, one of the main takeaways from the meeting was precisely the opportunity to share and learn about the experiences that different colleagues are developing in health promotion, as well as the inter-institutional work being carried out by the CORYMI Network to promote education among the migrant population, especially children and adolescents.
Proinapsa UIS’s participation in this international forum represents an opportunity to strengthen the University’s academic and scientific cooperation ties, exchange knowledge with institutions and networks in other countries, and highlight the contributions that Santander and Colombia make to health promotion.
These forums also reaffirm the role of the Industrial University of Santander and Proinapsa as actors committed to the generation, exchange, and social appropriation of knowledge, especially on issues related to health promotion, education, primary health care, and community well-being.
