Representatives of the Executive Secretariat of the Ministry of Health of Brazil (MoH), led by Rodrigo dos Santos Santana, Director of Programs, and composed by Soraya Zacarias Drummond de Andrade, General Coordinator of Documentation and Information (CGDI), Shirlei Corrêa Rodrigues, Coordinator of Dissemination of Scientific and Technical Health Information, and Sandra Cristina Teixeira, responsible for the Virtual Health Library of the Ministry of Health (BVS MS, Portuguese acronym), met at BIREME in order to review the results and discuss the specific objectives of the next 12 months, in the context of the VI Additive Term to the 95th Technical Cooperation Term (TA6/TC95) between the MoH and the Pan American Health Organization/World Health Organization in Brazil (PAHO/WHO Brazil) for the “Improvement of the Management of the Executive Secretariat of the Ministry of Health of Brazil”.
The PWR Brazil, the PAHO/WHO instance in the country that formalizes TC95, effective until August 2021, was represented by Janine Giuberti Coutinho, Consultant in Knowledge Management and focal point of this TC, in which participate technical areas of PWR Brazil and BIREME/PAHO/WHO that cooperates specifically with a result related to the management of scientific and technical health information and communication, emphasizing the following macro activities:
- Extension of bibliographic control and improvement in the quality of descriptions of scientific and technical literature from Brazil;
- Development and operation of user services of the Virtual Health Library (VHL) in order to facilitate and expand access and use of scientific knowledge within the framework of the Sistema Único de Saúde (SUS);
- Development of knowledge translation products oriented to the health priorities of Brazil;
- Quantitative and qualitative analysis of scientific production in Brazil;
- Operation of the VHL of the Ministry of Health (BVS MS);
- Training for the use in specific regions of the Gnuteca, a system for the automation of all processes in a library;
- Update of methodologies for the use of the Gnuteca;
- Management of the VHL Network Brazil;
- Update and strengthening of the Brazil VHL instances.
All developments are accessible within the context of the information sources of the VHL and the network of national libraries that contribute with the Brazil VHL, thematic instances such as the VHL on Primary Health Care (BVS APS, Portuguese acronym), and institutional such as the VHL of the Ministry of Health (BVS MS).
The BIREME/PAHO/WHO team was led by Diego González Machín, Director, who recognized the importance of the historical institutional alliance with the CGDI/SE/MS, the joint technical developments, and presented the results achieved, followed by commentaries from the team.
According to Soraya Zacarias Drummond de Andrade, General Coordinator of Documentation and Information (CGDI),“PAHO, through BIREME, has been a major institutional partner that contributed to the qualification and optimization of projects and actions related to the dissemination of knowledge in health. We follow closely the meaning of the word ‘cooperate’, which means to work together, and because of this, we have learned and grown together. I am very pleased with the results we have achieved so far; the BIREME team is very competent, dedicated and welcoming. New projects are being developed to expand our actions with BIREME.”