The Latin American and Caribbean Center for Health Sciences Information (BIREME/PAHO/WHO), in its mission to contribute to strengthen health in the countries of the Region through the democratization of access, publication and use of scientific information, management and evidence, develops and releases to countries and institutions products and services that aim to strengthen capacities in health information and disseminate networking methodologies.
In the month of June, activities were held in Argentina and Paraguay, during which local coordinators of the VHL Network and PAHO/WHO focal points, without the presence of BIREME representatives, developed training actions on the tools developed by the Center, giving them relevance and visibility.
Scientific Communication Workshop on the Field of Health, Santa Fe, Argentina
The Ministry of Health of the province of Santa Fe, Argentina, with the support of the Pan American Health Organization office in the country, organizes a Scientific Communication Workshop on the field of health, with the objective of strengthening capacities related to scientific communication and to improve the production and dissemination of scientific evidence that is useful for decision-making in public health.
Within the framework of the Second Agreement for Technical Cooperation with the province of Santa Fe, from May 7 to 10, the Center for Knowledge Management and Publications of the PAHO Representation in Argentina offered a series of training sessions on search and use of scientific health information for an audience of approximately 90 people in the cities of Rosario and Santa Fe. Among the participants were hospital directors, chiefs of service, residents and other health professionals.
Through the Virtual Health Library (VHL) Regional Portal, search strategies were explained for using common fields and commands that are inter-operational among the different databases, and specific resources from each database were presented.
Other resources presented include the Knowledge Showcases, the Repository of Search Strategies and the My VHL application, the latter providing participants with profiles that save search histories and most relevant documents to be used later in management activities.
The activity was developed by Flavio Hazrum, from the Center of Knowledge Management and Publications of the PAHO/WHO Representation in Argentina, along with Dr. Damián Vázquez, editor of the Pan American Journal of Public Health, who presented practical tools for scientific writing, authorship criteria, ethics and other scientific communication topics.
The minister of Health of Santa Fe, Dr. MarĂa Andrea Uboldi, was present at the event, welcoming participants in the city of Rosario, while Dr. Emiliano Melero, Subsecretary of Coordination of the Ministry of Health of the province, welcomed participants in the city of Santa Fe. The General Technical and Financial Coordinator of the project on behalf of Santa Fe, Cecilia Cuenya, and the Coordinator of Strategic Issues of the Sub-secretariat of Coordination of the Ministry of Health, Yamila FaĂn, were also present at the event and participated in the proposed activities.
First National REDISAL Meeting in Paraguay
The Instituto Nacional de Salud (INS), a Coordinating Center of the Virtual Health Library Paraguay (VHL PY), with the support of the Pan American Health Organization office in the country, organized the First National Meeting of the Health Information Network of Paraguay (REDISAL), with the objective of recognizing who is part of the Network and to build a work strategy for 2019, as well as to inform on the general analysis of VHL PY and to present products and services applied in the management, access and use of information from VHL.
The developed agenda covered the following topics: Presentation of the Commitment Act, signed on November 2018, the SĂŁo Paulo Declaration, adopted during CRICS10 and the Matrix of responsibilities; Report on the general analysis of records sent through FI-Admin from the National Database of Paraguay – BDNPAR; and Presentation of the Products and Services applied to the management, access and use of information from the VHL.
As a result of the meeting, the matrix of responsibility for VHLPY was created and approved; through the VHL Regional Portal, Products and Services applied to the management, access and use of information from the VHL were presented. Search strategies for using common fields and commands were also explained. Other resources that were given visibility were the knowledge showcases, the repository of search strategies and the MyVHL application. The Signing of the Act was consolidated by a certificate that offered to each institution.
The Director General of the National Health Institute, Dr. JosĂ© LuĂs Molinas and Epifania GĂłmez Torales, Representative of the Knowledge Management Team of PAHO Paraguay, were present at the event, welcoming participants and following the activities.