In the last two months, BIREME/PAHO/WHO, the Brazilian Ministry of Health (MS) and PAHO/WHO Brazil evaluated the development of the Cooperation Terms (Termo de Cooperação – TC) with the Coordenação Geral de Documentação e Informação (General Coordination of Documentation and Information), which integrates the Subsecretaria de Assuntos Administrativos da Secretaria Executiva (CGDI/SAA/SE – Sub-secretariat of Administrative Issues of the Executive Secretariat), focusing on the results obtained by the TC93 (in force). The results of the TC50 (completed) and the TC95 (already formalized and about to be initiated) were also reviewed.
Technical and administrative matters, in addition to the reporting mechanisms inherent to the management process of the Terms of Cooperation, were shared in the final approval phase between the parties and to record the lessons learned throughout the historical process, since the MS is one of the main institutional supporters of BIREME in Brazil.
The main objective of the TC93, which lasts until 2022, is to develop and improve BIREME in the context of Information and Knowledge Management (IKM) in the framework of the 2030 Agenda and Universal Health Coverage, with the following expected results: (1) IKM institutionalized in the MS in order to enhance the organizational capacity and strengthen national health policies and strategies; (2) Access, use and translation of health knowledge promoted in the formulation and implementation of intersectoral policies and actions to contribute to the reduction of inequities and to the achievement of the goals of Agenda 2030; (3) Health systems and services strengthened through the improvement of IKM, contributing to Universal Access to Health and Universal Health Coverage; and (4) Exchange of experiences and knowledge among health systems and services, promoted and shared through strategic partnerships in national and international cooperation.
Some of the main results achieved are:
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Regular updating of the ColecionaSUS and LILACS databases so as to give visibility to the Institutional Memory of the MS; participation in CONASEMS events (Conselho Nacional de Secretarias Municipais de Saúde – National Council of Municipal Health Secretariats), promoting training courses on access and use of information for promotion and dissemination within the framework of the SUS.
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DeCS continues to be updated annually (along with MeSH, maintained by the NLM), in English, Portuguese and Spanish. The MeSH translated into French was added, as well as the translation of the exclusive DeCS categories (Public Health, Homeopathy, Health Surveillance and Science and Health), in collaboration with the Hospital of Rouen, in France.
BIREME is promoting the expansion of DeCS, including the cross-cutting themes of PAHO/WHO: Gender, Ethnicity, Equity and Human Rights. The incorporation of the new terms on these themes was analyzed and proposed, and they are now under evaluation by experts on the Region, in coordination with PAHO/WHO headquarters. The expansion on Ethnicity has been completed, and the new terms Gender, Equity and Human Rights await approval from expert groups to be incorporated.
The VHL Regional Portal, in operation and regular updating, recorded about 8.7 million visits (hits) in 2017, which resulted in 25 million pageviews. In addition, Knowledge Showcases were included to the portal to highlight relevant information on priority issues in the Region, such as the Zika virus and Yellow Fever. Access to the VHL APS (containing documents related to rapid responses, which are products of knowledge translation) recorded a monthly average of 200 thousand sessions in 2017, which represents twice as much as in 2016.
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The VHL model continues to be developed and adapted to the new needs of the Network. The model is applied in 109 national, thematic and institutional initiatives of the VHL in 30 countries. A new portal of the VHL Network is in its final construction stage; its function will be to support the application of the VHL Model, as well as to provide a space for the Collaboration Network. Of the initiatives mentioned above, 34 are from Brazil and 13 are hosted at BIREME. In 2017, the VHL had about 27 million records in databases, of which 12 million have a link to the full text.
In 2017, more than 340 health professionals, post graduate students and researchers were trained through communication and scientific writing courses.
In the same year, there were 14 classroom training sessions for users on access and use of information and promotion of the VHL through mini-courses, in nine scientific events in cooperation with PAHO Brazil.
At the end of 2016, the self-learning course on access to and use of information was launched, and by December 2017 it has been completed by about 10,000 participants.
A preliminary infometric study of the scientific production of the SES-SP Research Institutes (Secretary of Health of the State of São Paulo), published in the Medline, LILACS and Web of Science databases, will be used to elaborate the new research agenda. Science, Technology and Strategic Inputs of the Secretary of Health of the State of São Paulo).
Infobutton VHL version 1.0 is in an advanced stage of development. It is a context-based knowledge retrieval tool for clinical information systems to request online resources on specific knowledge (bibliographical references in the VHL), based on CID10, DeCS/MeSH, gender and age.
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The number of technical cooperation projects established has been surpassed (BRISA, MTCI, VHL APS, ProEthos, Human Resources in Health, Health Legislation, Risk Factors in Non- Communicable Diseases, Global Index Medicus (GIM), decentralized projects ETSUS/SES-TO, among others.
Educational projects were developed for 14 distance-learning courses on the diagnosis, prevention and treatment of poverty-related diseases in the Americas, such as rabies, trachoma, visceral leishmaniasis, tegumentary leishmaniasis and helminthiasis.
The self-learning course on access and use of health information in Spanish was updated and published in the VCPH (Virtual Campus of Public Health). Other self-learning courses published in the VCPH were: Evidence Informed Health Policies and Access and Use of Scientific Information in Health.
26 Open Educational Resources were created on the use of methodologies (LIS, DirEve, LILACS, VHL) developed by BIREME and on access to information available in the VHL.
These developments contribute to the priorities of the Government of Brazil, mainly in the application of newly generated knowledge to health practices and in the prioritization of health topics in the field of scientific research. Likewise, they contribute to the PAHO/WHO Strategies and Action Plans on e-Health, Knowledge Management and Communications and Universal Health Access and Universal Health Coverage, which consider important the field of information management and knowledge in health.