February 16, 2004 - Quito, Ecuador.- As part of the 5th Andean Congress on Family Medicine, Ecuador's Ministry of Public Health, the Ecuadorean Society for Family Medicine, and Quito's Hospital Vozandes organized a virtual session on the new health care model centered on the patient and the family. The virtual session allowed the participants to hear from recognized international experts who were physically participating from Buenos Aires, Argentina and Mexico City, Mexico.

The dialogue was facilitated from Quito by Dr. Jean Pierre Unger, professor from Belgium's Universiteit Antwerpen. The speakers were:

• Dr. Adolfo Rubinstein from Argentina - Chief of the Family and Preventive Medicina Unit of Buenos Aires' Italian Hospital, President of the Iberoamerican Confederation of Family Medicine (CIMF), and ex-president of the Argentina Federation of Family Medicine and
• Dr. Javier Dominguez del Olmo from Mexico - National Official of the United Nations Foundation in Mexico and ex-president of Iberoamerican Confederation of Family Medicine (CIMF)

The dialogue and the presentations given by the experts were offered under the framework of the health sector reform taking place in the different Latin American countries. A change in the primary care model is being proposed that would respond to seeking integral health in people, their families, and communities. It is a key theme to be addressed for the reality of Ecuador, seeing as to how the objective is to introduce this new model in family medicine within the primary care system in the country.

The 5th Andean Congress on Family Medicine is taking place in Quito, Ecuador the week of February 16th, 2004. In addition, it counts with a national dissemination thanks to the virtual classrooms through which primary health care professionals can participate even if they are in different cities throughout the country.

For additional information regarding this event or to learn of future programs to be offered by GDLN in Health related topics, please contact Carmen Carpio (ccarpio@worldbank.org).