BIREME, as a Specialized PAHO/WHO Center, works with its network of cooperating institutions in close coordination with PAHO/WHO Offices in each country. The current leadership has been paying special attention to coming closer to these offices, attending technical meetings with Center directors, as well as with other collaborators. The year of 2017 brought the opportunity of exchanges with the technical teams from PAHO Offices in Brazil, Cuba, Panama, Argentina, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Paraguay.
In the beginning of 2018, BIREME attended the PAHO/WHO Expanded Program Coordination Group (Grupo de Coordenação Programática Ampliado, GPA) meeting in Brazil, which was held on January 24th, and chaired by Dr. Maria Dolores Perez-Rosales, PAHO/WHO Brazil Deputy Representative and Coordinator of the Group, and Dr. Joaquín Molina—PAHO/WHO Brazil Representative. The primary objective of the meeting was to have each technical unit of PAHO Office Brazil and Specialized Centers to present their main accomplishments, challenges, and lessons learned in 2017. Special emphasis was also placed on their work projections for 2018.
At the occasion, BIREME was represented by its director, Dr. Diego Gonzalez, who presented the Center’s accomplishments at Regional level, however emphasizing those of Brazil, particularly in the scope of the Cooperation Terms (CT). Likewise, he presented the challenges for 2018 in the four initiative the center works with: Information and Knowledge Management, Intelligence in Health Sciences Information, Information Services, and Leadership and Management. Dr. Gonzalez also mentioned some of the priorities the center will focus on: (1) Meeting the commitments agreed in the scope of the ongoing CT, as it is the case of programs such as Mais Medicos, Human Resources in Health, etc.; (2) Developing actions already designed in other projects and Technical Cooperation, as in the Scientific-Technical Management of Health Information with CGDI, ANVISA, FUNASA, and in the Decentralized Cooperation Terms (Tocantins); (3) Strengthening alliances with the three levels of government (City, State, and Federal); (4) Repositioning BIREME network of Cooperating centers; (5) Continue contributing to important events together with PAHO Brazil and the Ministry of Health; (6) Exploring new opportunities in the scope of the decentralized Cooperation Terms.
Dr. Dolores Perez-Rosales, Deputy Representative of PAHO/WHO Brazil and GPA Coordinator stated: “this is a powerful space of interaction and joint work amongst Technical Units themselves and with the Specialized Centers—two of which are in Brazil, PANAFTOSA and BIREME. We can identify convergence points in the development of cooperation actions in the PAHO/WHO Brazil’s Biannual Work Plan, as well as in the level of the Decentralized Cooperation Terms with the Brazil’s states”.
About PAHO/WHO Brazil Programmatic Coordination Group
The Programmatic Coordination Group includes representatives of the programmatic and technical areas of PAHO Brazil. Its primary objective is to promote the exchange of administrative, technical, and strategic information, fostering integration between the areas and joint programs for the development of technical cooperation actions.
It is also used for a deep dive into emerging themes and issues that may impact the organization and operation of the country’s National Health System and, consequently, the actions developed jointly with the Organization.
The GPA holds monthly meetings coordinated by the Deputy Representative Dr. Maria Dolores Perez-Rosales, with a previously defined agenda based on the priorities identified by the Office or suggested by the units. Participants of these meetings include the Representative, Dr. Joaquín Molina; Coordinators and National Officers of the Technical Units; Program Officers; the Advisor to the Representative Office; the Manager of the Representative Office; the Compliance Officer; the Administrator; and Directors of Logistics and Procurement, Finance, Human Resources, and Information Technology; the Advisor to the Deputy Representative Office, and the Secretary of the Deputy Representative.
Every two months, the GPA expands these meetings and incorporates representatives from the Regional Specialized Centers, BIREME and PANAFTOSA, as well as National Consultants.