Bireme sets presence in Latin America and the Caribbean in 2017

BIREME’s presence in Latin America and the Caribbean has always been marked by its Network of Cooperating Libraries, spread throughout all countries of the Latin American and Caribbean region (LA&C). According to Dr. Diego González, BIREME director, “repositioning our institution as a PAHO/WHO specialized Center in scientific and technical information is our priority. For such, we will be increasing our contribution with the information and knowledge systems of the LA&C countries and, by means of the south-south cooperation with other countries in the world that so require”.

During 2017, we intensified BIREME’s presence in the Region by means of PAHO/WHO Country Offices, as well as with in-person or virtual participation in national and regional events, which fostered exchanges with both technical and administrative areas of PAHO/WHO and of each country.

Some of the events developed in 2017 with the presence of BIREME professionals included:

• Scientific Symposium dedicated to the 30^th anniversary of “Finlay” journal and the 15^th anniversary of “Medisur”. January 23-27. Cienfuegos, Cuba.
• US-Mexico Border VHL Health Meeting. April 4. Monterrey, Mexico.
• VHL Nursing Meeting. Building capacity in the access and use of information and scientific communication. April 3-6. Mexico City, Mexico.
• Meeting of Central-American Health Policy Centers. April 24-25. Antigua, Guatemala.
• Strengthening VHL in Argentina Meeting. Meetings with the Argentinian Pediatrics Society, Argentinian Ministry of Health. April 24-26. Buenos Aires, Argentina.
• 5º Congresso Norte e Nordeste de Secretarias Municipais de Saúde and 6º Congresso Estadual de Secretarias Municipais de Saúde da Bahia. May 3-6. Salvador, BA, Brazil.
• III Congresso Internacional de Atenção Primaria à Saúde. May 4-6. Teresina, PI, Brazil.
• Regional Meeting Avanzando hacia la Salud Universal, aportes de la Medicina Tradicional y Complementaria. June 6-8. Managua, Nicaragua.
• VHL Panama Meeting. June 6. Panama City, Panama.
• ACURIL 2017. Celebrating BIREME’s 50^th  Anniversary. Meetings with VHL Cooperating Center, WHO Cooperating Center. Meeting with Puerto Rico Health Sub-Secretariat. June 7-8. San Juan, Puerto Rico.
• Regional consultation to support the development of a mechanism to share information on communicable diseases and vector-borne diseases for CARPHA Member States. VHL MedCarib Network Meeting. June 20-23. Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago.
• XXXIII Congresso Nacional de Secretarias Municipais de Saúde. July 12-15. Brasilia, DF, Brazil.
• Jornada Nacional de Investigación, regulación y desarrollo de la investigación científica. Relaunch of VHL-Ecuador. Meeting with VHL coordinating team. September 13-15. Quito, Ecuador.
• 23^o Congresso Internacional de Educação à Distância. September 17-21. Foz do Iguaçu, PR, Brazil.
• II Foro Nacional de la Red de Biblioteca Virtual en Salud de Paraguay. Taller sobre Acceso y Uso de la Evidencia en la toma de decisiones en salud en el marco de FELSOCEM. XXXII Congreso Científico Internacional de la Federación Latinoamericana de Sociedades Científicas de Estudiantes de Medicina (FELSOCEM). September 19-23. Asunción, Paraguay.
• XI Reunión Internacional de la Red BVS Enfermería. Reunión Red BVS Perú. September 24-26. Lima, Peru.
• I Congresso Nacional de PICS – Práticas Integrativas, Complementares de Saúde. October 12-14. Natal, RN, Brazil.
• X Congresso Brasileiro de Epidemiologia. October 7-11. Florianópolis, SC, Brazil.
• XXVII Congresso Brasileiro de Biblioteconomia, Documentação e Ciência da Informação. October 17-20. Fortaleza, CE, Brazil.
• Congresso Brasileiro de Telemedicina e Telessaúde e Seminário do Programa Telessaúde Brasil Redes, November 14-15, Gramado, RS, Brazil.
• 6º Congresso Brasileiro sobre Uso Racional de Medicamentos, I Congresso Pan-Americano sobre Uso Racional de Medicamentos, I Congresso Latino-Americano de Estudantes de Farmácia, II Congresso Brasileiro de Farmácia Estética, III Encontro Nacional de Educadores em Farmácia Clínica – November 15-18. Foz de Iguaçu, PR, Brazil.
• Reunión Técnica sobre Alfabetización Digital y Gestión de Conocimiento. November 27-29. Buenos Aires, Argentina.
• I Congresso Internacional de Engenharia de Saúde Pública e Saúde Ambiental da FUNASA/MS, November 27-30. Belém, PA, Brazil.
• I Jornada Internacional de Pós-graduação em Enfermagem. November 28-29. Ribeirão Preto, SP, Brazil.

Besides in-person activities, BIREME also took part in a myriad of virtual meetings with its Network to coordinate the cooperation and promotion of technical qualification. It also held virtual meetings with different areas and workshops from PAHO/WHO countries, which fostered presentation of the Center’s potentialities and opened opportunities to generate joint projects with PAHO/WHO technical programs. Some of the meetings held in 2017 in the Country Offices include:  Brazil, Cuba, Argentina, Panama, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Paraguay.

On the other hand, several PAHO internal events were attended by BIREME staff, including:

• Sub-regional South-America Managers Meeting, March 13-17, Lima, Peru.
• PAHO/WHO Administrators Conference. March 27-31. Washington D.C., USA.
• Sub-regional Central-America Managers Meeting, Cuba, Dominican Republic, and Mexico, April 17-21, Antigua, Guatemala (virtual participation).
• 3^rd PAHO Program Management Network (PMN) Meeting, July 10-12, Bogota, Colombia.
• Operational Meeting Plan for PAHO/WHO Strategy with Key Countries. July 17-19. Washington D.C., USA.
• Regional Training on Procurement Procedures, October 3-6, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.
• Human Resources and Focal Learning Points Network Meeting: facing challenges and building the future together. October 17-19. Washington D.C., USA.
• PMIS Workshop for Knowledge Transfer and Improvement Program. November 6-8. Santiago, Chile.
• PAHO Communication Focal Points Meeting. December 5-8. Washington D.C., USA.

The holding of events in São Paulo, with the participation of several professionals from the Region, not only enabled these professionals to get to know BIREME, but also generated exchange and alliance opportunities. Some of the events held under BIREME support in 2017 include:

• Formal Regional Consultation on the International Health Sanitation Regulation. July 17-19
• Latin-American and Caribbean Forum: Implementing the Key Components for Infection Prevention and Control. September 26-27.
•  Workshop – Knowledge Management Project in Health Human Resources. October 23-27.
• Sub-regional Course on Development, Project Management, and Resources Mobilization and Political Advocacy. November 27-29.
• ProEthos 2.0. Workshop. Open Source Development and Maintenance. December 11-13.

Finally, it is important to mention that, if BIREME’s presence in Latin-America and the Caribbean was strengthened in 2017, this year also saw the resuming of actions with other regions in the world, such as the Global Index Medicus, and in Portuguese-speaking countries with which BIREME kept relations, such as Mozambique. The Center professionals visited the country in March 2017. This an action is one of those the Center will continue to develop in the scope of south-south cooperation.