The Latin American and Caribbean Center for Health Sciences Information – BIREME has developed the Knowledge Showcase methodology with the purpose of supporting countries of the Region in the development of content that promotes visibility and access to digital resources of relevant and trustable information selected by experts and focused on priority health topics.
The Knowledge Showcases can be applied to the Virtual Health Library (VHL) instances that are build up with a WordPress platform. Further details for implementation are available at the VHL Network Regional Portal. Since they were launched during CRICS10, BIREME has regularly published new showcases, which may be seen in the VHL Regional Portal.
Applying the concept and the available model, the Virtual Health Library Colombia launched, on May 27, 2019, in the Jorge Gómez Cusnir auditorium of the Fundación Universitaria de Ciencias de la Salud – FUCS, a Knowledge Showcase on the topic of Mental Health and Migration, with the objective of contributing to decision-making based on evidence, to the strengthening of collaborative work and to the support of technical cooperation in health.
Colombia VHL presented to a large audience, among which were the main institutions that collaborate in care for the migrant population of Colombia, the new knowledge showcase called Tool box for intervention in Mental Health and Psycho-social Support (Salud Mental y Apoyo Psicosocial, SMAPS) for mixed migration flows, a PAHO/WHO initiative in Colombia, the Red Cross Bogotá/Cundinamarca and the Universidad Los Libertadores, with the objective of disseminating actions and meaningful advances from different actors in the field of mental health that are applicable to the current migrant situation.
The Knowledge Showcase on mental health and migration of VHL Colombia ensures a fast access to a compilation of content selected through a careful curator process carried out by mental health specialists. The strategy also presents a methodological component through the User’s guide of the tool box, which gives a roadmap for content access depending on the level of care required.
Other VHLs are on the same path, such as Paraguay VHL, Panama VHL and Brazil’s Health Economics VHL, which are also developing their own showcases.
According to Rosemeire Pinto, Supervisor of Training Services and User Service of BIREME, “it is gratifying to develop an information product and methodology and see countries embrace the initiative and develop it further. This reflects the accomplishment of our mission of democratizing information and decentralized work with our collaboration network”.