The first semester of 2025 was marked by important results for BIREME/PAHO/WHO, within the framework of its 2024–2025 Biennial Work Plan and in alignment with its 2023–2025 Strategy, which is focused on digital transformation, innovation, and institutional strengthening. BIREME continued to support the countries of the Region through information products and services aimed at knowledge management and evidence-based health decision-making, by means of the ongoing operation of the Virtual Health Library (VHL), cooperation with regional networks such as LILACS and WHO centers, and the incorporation of artificial intelligence-based solutions and new initiatives in digital health and equity.
- The regional portal of the Virtual Health Library (VHL) continued operating regularly, offering access to a broad collection of over 50 information sources and approximately 40 million scientific and technical documents. In the first half of 2025, 14.8 million access sessions were recorded in the Regional VHL, originated from 9.5 million users, generating 124.2 million events—32.6 million page views, 13.4 million search results views, and 365,000 full-text downloads.
- The Literature on Health Sciences in Latin America and the Caribbean (LILACS) celebrates its 40th anniversary in 2025 with a collection of over 1.12 million document records from 30 LA&C countries, 62% of which have links to the full text. LILACS was updated with more than 15,000 new records in the first half of the year, with contributions from 200 cooperating centers in 18 countries. The LILACS Brazil 2025 journal evaluation and selection process began with 28 journals, of which 5 remain under evaluation. The LILACS Plus collection, which includes content from LILACS and the region’s national and thematic databases, as well as publications by countries and authors from Latin America and the Caribbean indexed in MEDLINE, is available on the VHL Regional Portal and brings together more than 3 million documents, improving the visibility of the region’s scientific production. The study “Profile of Journals Indexed in LILACS” 2025 is being updated and will be published on the LILACS Portal with data from 934 journals from 19 countries. This initiative supports strategic actions to train editors, update indexing criteria, promote good editorial practices, and make technical and operational improvements at LILACS.
- The 2025 edition of DeCS added 206 new descriptors, 192 from MeSH and 14 exclusives to DeCS. The collaboration of working groups in updating thematic areas such as Nursing and Homeopathy is noteworthy. The review of the Homeopathy category was completed, reorganizing its hierarchy. The DeCS/MeSH portal and the DeCS Finder AI service recorded approximately 9.9 million access sessions by 1.2 million users, generating more than 36 million events (page views, search result views, and others). The DeCS Finder AI service was updated, expanding the knowledge base for training and implementing descriptor suggestions for AI-assisted indexing in FI-Admin.
- In 2025, efforts to strengthen collaborative work and expand the VHL network in the LA&C region continued. In the first half of the year, 10 meetings were held, averaging 170 connections from 36 countries, on the topics of information access and use, document indexing according to the LILACS methodology, best practices in the editorial processes of LILACS scientific journals, and innovation in VHL products and services.
- Technical cooperation at global level in coordination with the WHO: (i) ongoing development and operation of the Global Index Medicus (GIM), an information product that integrates regional scientific production from all WHO regions (WHO Regional Offices operate the GIM, which has a database with over 2 million records); (ii) operation of the AFRO/WHO Index Medicus on the VHL technology platform; and (iii) development of the Global Library of Traditional Medicine (beta version 0.2) in cooperation with the WHO Global Centre for Traditional Medicine. The development of the Traditional Medicine Global Library (TMGL) has advanced with the implementation of the beta version, which includes the global portal, six regional portals, 194 country pages, and two thematic pages: Ayurveda and Traditional Midwifery. The TMGL collection includes collections of scientific and technical documents (+1.7 million), multimedia, journals, evidence maps, repositories and, bibliographic, policies and regulations databases and the WHO Traditional Medicine Global Summit collection. Artificial intelligence-based innovations, such as the TMGL GPT model, are also being implemented in TMGL. The TMGL launch is planned for December at the second Traditional Medicine Global Summit.
- In collaboration with the Science for Impact unit, the GRADE Guidelines and Recommendations portal is in regular operation and is updated on the VHL. The portal includes BIGG (International GRADE Guidelines Database), BIGG-REC (GRADE Recommendations for SDG-3), and BIGG-Map (Evidence Maps based on GRADE recommendations), as well as the Evidence-Informed Policies (PIE) database and the Evid@Easy (guided evidence search) tool. These products facilitate access to resources that support clinical and public health decision-making, produced by WHO, PAHO, and other national and international institutions that follow the GRADE approach. Furthermore, the development of the graphical tool for creating algorithms based on clinical guidelines and recommendations continued.
- By June 2025, the evidence mapping methodology offered by BIREME was applied in the development and publication of four new evidence maps: Interculturality in Health, Family Constellation, Cancer Prevention in the population over 15 years of age, and Ayurveda. Other maps were updated and made available in the TMGL collection in English (Yoga, Meditation, Reflexology, Acupuncture, Cupping Therapy, and Shantala). The Evidence Map Portal (https://bvsalud.org/mapa-de-evidencias/) has 80 registered maps. A new plug-in for the Showcases of Knowledge is under development. Meanwhile, the Showcases of Knowledge portal (https://bvsalud.org/vitrinas/) remains available with 60 active showcases. During this period, eight showcases related to health commemorative dates were updated and three new ones were created: World Health Day 2025, Zoonosis Surveillance, and Primary Care.
- In collaboration with the Secretariat of Information and Digital Health of the Brazilian Ministry of Health (SEIDIGI/MS) and PWR BRA, BIREME is developing four products within the context of TC157 Digital Health: (i) A new program for the Second Formative Opinion (SOF) with the incorporation of digital technologies aimed at updating the collection of 1,700 SOFs, expanding production beyond SOFs originated from teleconsultations and PHC, and creating SOF derivatives for other media and formats; (ii) Decision Aids (AD) are interventions that support patients in healthcare decision-making by providing evidence-based information on options, benefits, and risks (four AD prototypes are undergoing review prior to user testing); (iii) SUS Digital Platform – development of an interactive portal integrating information, documents, tools, services, projects, and products related to the SUS Digital Program; and (iv) Information products to support the Interagency Health Information Network (RIPSA), including resources that integrate the RIPSA portal with the Indicator Management Module (MGDI).
- As part of the initiatives to incorporate artificial intelligence developments, important results were achieved this semester: (i) implementation of the Super Summaries service in the Mosaico database (Integrative Health); (ii) coverage of approximately 50% of the LILACS database with Super Summaries generated by large language models (LLM); and (iii) initiation of automated processing for inclusion of Super Summaries in new records in other databases, such as the BVS MS. Furthermore, criteria for sorting search results by relevance were defined, an essential step for the future implementation of Narrative Syntheses.
- In 2025, BIREME and the Special Secretariat for Indigenous Health (SESAI/MS) advanced the development of the Indigenous People VHL (IP VHL), selecting and including more than 450 relevant pieces of content on Indigenous people health, including scientific articles, videos, guidelines, courses, and experience reports. The IP VHL portal structure was designed with accessibility, cultural appreciation, and visibility of Indigenous experiences in mind. Two Showcases of Knowledge were also developed: Traditional Indigenous Medicines and Yanomami Health Emergency. These showcases bring together selected and contextualized content on these topics. Furthermore, a Timeline was created with the main historical and institutional milestones related to indigenous health in Brazil. The beta version of the portal will be launched in October, in celebration of SESAI’s 15th anniversary, bringing together in a single space qualified content that strengthens public policies and actions in indigenous health.
The results achieved during the semester reflect BIREME’s commitment to democratizing access to scientific and technical health information, in close collaboration with the countries of the Region and under the leadership of its Director, João Paulo Souza. As a specialized center of PAHO/WHO linked to the Department of Evidence and Intelligence for Action in Health (EIH), BIREME counts on the strategic support of the Government of Brazil, through the Ministry of Health, and on the dedication of its technical and administrative staff to continue innovating, promoting network collaboration, and strengthening evidence-based public health policies.