The Pan American Health Organization/World Health Organization (PAHO/WHO) Representation in Brazil has been present in the major Public Health events held in the country, with stands that promote actions of the several areas of the Organization, by means of publications and presentations, as well as mini-courses to visitors addressing the products and services developed by BIREME.
The partnership between PAHO Brazil and BIREME in these events is an opportunity to fulfill the mission of democratizing health information, to report the activities of the Center delivering scientific and technical information in health to end-users, and to encourage access at municipal level.
Examples of this partnership occurred in two major events held in Brasília-DF, in July: the 15ª Mostra Nacional de Experiências Bem-sucedidas em Epidemiologia, Prevenção e Controle de Doenças (Expoepi) and the XXXIII Congresso Nacional de Secretarias Municipais de Saúde (Conasems). Both events are targeted at workers of the Brazilian National Health System (SUS), including Municipal Health Secretaries from throughout Brazil, healthcare professionals and managers, as well as students.
In its stand, BIREME offered 17 mini-courses of interest to the participants, who were presented the VHL Regional Portal, which integrates over 35 sources of information, and the EVIPNet Portal that promotes the appropriate use of scientific evidence in the development and implementation of health policies through the Evidence-Informed Policy Network – EVIPNet. The APS VHL was also presented, with its core content on questions and answers in Primary Health Care called Formative Second Opinion – SOF [acronym in Portuguese]. It provides the best evidence produced by universities to subsidize the practice of primary care professionals, by translating knowledge and giving answers in a user-friendly language.
The mini-courses given by BIREME are a well-known strategy to promote the products and services, and are provided in all events that the Center takes part.