At our institution, activities are focused on three interactive and supplementary fields:
1. Research
2. Education
3. Technical cooperation
Research
We generate knowledge locally, regionally and globally. Throughout 20 years, we have developed more than 500 research projects including:
Clinical, epidemiological research and studies applied to healthcare policies and services
Health technology assessments and economic evaluations
Systematic reviews
Qualitative studies
Questionnaire validation
Interventions improving the quality of medical care and healthcare safety
The projects we work on involve thousands of people in different continents. Our aim is to make a contribution that allows re-formulating the research agenda through works that reflect the priorities and health needs of those who live in low and middle-income countries. We want the studies to close the gap between the scientific knowledge available and decision making.
The results of our research can be red in MEDLINE-indexed publications; some of them in internationally renowned journals such as The Lancet, The Lancet Global Health, The New England Journal of Medicine, The BMJ, Pediatrics and PLOS ONE.
We have received dozens of research grants from national, regional and international sponsoring agencies including the U.S National Institutes of Health (NIH)’s Fogarty International Center, the World Health Organization (WHO), the Inter American Development Bank (IDB) and Canada’s International Development Research Centre (IDRC).
Education
We provide training in clinical and health research, management and assessment of health programs and policies. Our academic offer includes:
Master’s Degree in Clinical Effectiveness, University of Buenos Aires School of Medicine, certified with the highest score by Argentina’s Ministry of Education’s National Commission of Evaluation and University Accreditation (CONEAU). This diploma first began in 1999 as a Clinical Effectiveness Program (PEC). More than 700 professionals from Argentina and other countries of the region (Uruguay, Chile, Brazil, Bolivia, Peru, Mexico, Ecuador, Colombia and Haiti) have already graduated.
Post-graduate (in-person and distance) courses and seminars in the following areas:
Management, Quality and Safety in Healthcare
Advanced Research Methods and Applied Statistics
Health Technology Assessments and Economic Evaluations
Evidence-Based Medicine, Systematic Reviews and Meta-analysis
Health Policies
https://educacion.iecs.org.ar/educacion-categoria/politicas-de-salud/
Technical cooperation
We believe that clinical practices, health technologies and health policies should be adopted and implemented in compliance with effectiveness, cost-effectiveness, equity and quality criteria.
Consequently, through a close collaboration with public agencies, non-governmental organizations and private institutions, we provide technical support to health decision-makers and promote strategies that allow improving accessibility and quality of care, in order to promote implementation of effective policies and interventions based on the best scientific evidence available.
In addition to training Human Resources, IECS soon became a source of continued consultation for the Superintendence of Health Services, a state-owned agency responsible for regulating social security and prepaid medicine programs in Argentina, in order to assess the content of a Mandatory Medical Program, which includes the essential primary services that social security and insurance companies should cover for all their beneficiaries. Later on, similar agreements were made with other public, social security and private institutions in Argentina and other Latin American countries. The academic curriculum initiated a transition towards a new organization that would render genuine resources.
To learn more about the IECS see here our yearbooks.
