The Pan American Health Organization/World Health Organization, through the Department of Health Services (HSS) and the Latin American and Caribbean Center for Health Sciences Information (BIREME), which integrates the Department of Evidence and Intelligence for Action in Health (EIH) of the Pan American Health Organization, promoted a Webinar on May 19th, as part of the 2020 celebrations as the International Year of the Nurse and the Midwife, defined by the World Health Organization.
The virtual session, held in Spanish, consisted of four presentations, in accordance with the following program:
- Silvia Cassiani, Regional Adviser of Nursing and Health Technicians, Human Resources Unit for Health, PAHO/WHO. State of Nursing in the Region of the Americas.
- Diego González, Director of BIREME/PAHO/WHO. The primary health care professionals: a priority for BIREME.
- Joanita Barros, Librarian in the area of Instances and Project Monitoring of the Virtual Health Library, BIREME/PAHO/WHO. The Nursing VHL: Reliable information for Nursing Professionals.
- Francisco Lana, Coordinator of the Nursing VHL and Full Professor at the School of Nursing at the Federal University of Minas Gerais. Nursing VHL Network: the importance of collaborative work.
Silvia Cassiani opened the session presenting data about the distribution of nursing professionals in Latin America and the Caribbean, highlighting their outstanding role in the current COVID-19 pandemic, recognized by international organizations such as the United Nations, WHO and PAHO. The presentation was underpinned by the recent launch of the State of the World’s Nursing Report – 2020.
Next, Diego González highlighted the importance that Primary Health Care professionals have for BIREME and showed the products and services developed by the Center to support these professionals. It is worth highlighting the Nursing VHL, which reunites six countries besides Brazil, coordinator of the Network, and the products such as e-BlueInfo, MyVHL, and the Windows of Knowledge.
Joanita Barros reported on the network endeavors that guide the development of the Nursing VHL, its main sources of information, BDENF and RevEnf, as well as the contributions of the countries that integrate its collaboration network. She also highlighted the Window of Knowledge of Nursing History, launched in November 2019, developed in partnership with the Anna Nery EEAN/UFRJ School of Nursing, which includes information on personalities and memories of nursing in Brazil.
Concluding the session, Francisco Lana stressed the importance of networking in the management of the Ibero-American Nursing VHL, and in addition, he dedicated his presentation to the managers and committees that, leading the institutions that made the Nursing VHL viable, made the successful development of the VHL possible. Lana highlighted the scientific editors of the main nursing journals in Brazil, who through their work and dedication contribute to the dissemination of the research in the area carried out in the country.
The recording of the Webinar, as well as the presentations are available on the Nursing VHL page on the VHL Network Portal, accessible to all.
The virtual event brought together approximately 250 participants from the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean. From this high participation, one can infer the relevance of nursing as a health profession and as a science in the countries of the Region. BIREME is proud to contribute to the dissemination of qualified scientific and technical information to support the health, teaching and research systems in nursing.
According to Silvia Cassiani, from the Health Human Resources Unit of the PAHO/WHO Department of Health Systems and Services, “we consider that the products and services offered by BIREME and its networking strategy are having a very positive impact for the nursing staff and they are highly valued within the framework of their mission to democratize health information and knowledge. ”