The structure of the BIREME/PAHO/WHO Biannual Work Plan (BWP) for 2020-2021 was approved by the PAHO/WHO Executive Management and Director, with four initiatives comprised of 36 Products and Services of scientific and technical information, associated to the 2020-2025 PAHO/WHO Strategic Plan, which will enable the fulfillment of the Center’s technical cooperation program and institutional management priorities in the period considering the improvement of its products and services already consolidated, such as the Virtual Health Library Network (VHL), the LILACS index (Latin American Literature in Health Sciences), DeCS (Health Sciences Descriptors), and technical and institutional events such as the 8th edition of the VHL Coordination Meeting (VHL7), and the 11th edition of the Regional Congress on Health Information Sciences (CRICS11).
Among the main approaches, it is possible to highlight its alignment with the objectives of the 2030 Sustainable Health Agenda for the Americas (ASSA2030) and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the 2030 Agenda for synergies with multi-sector institutions. As well as global, sub-regional and national developments on information and knowledge management and scientific communication with innovative strategies and approaches to support its implementation, for example: Global Index Medicus (GIM) coordinated by the World Health Organization (WHO), Headquarters and Regional Offices; the Virtual Health Library (VHL) in the countries of the Region, highlighting the themes of Nursing and Traditional and Complementary Medicine (MTCI), MedCarib CARPHA for the English Caribbean, and support for the comeback of the ePORTUGUĂŠSe and EVIPNet networks.
Furthermore, developments coordinated with the Technical Departments of PAHO/WHO Headquarters ( the International GRADE Guidelines Database – BIGG, MedList and Legislation), and also new and innovative Products and Services: (1) Analysis of impact indicators on the use of information products and services developed by BIREME ; (2) Open data from the VHL sources of reference information; (3) LILACS promoting Open Science in the Region; (4) Project Management to support the development of agreements with a focus on the mobilization and monitoring of financial resources; and (5) Dissemination and visibility of successful experiences related to SDG3 of the 2030 Agenda.
About the consolidation dynamics
Based on the analysis of priorities aligned with BIREME’s mission and institutional objective, including the resumption and revision of BWP 18-19 and the recommendations by the Governance Committees, the direction, management and teams of the Center defined in consensus the Projects, Products and Services for the 2020-2021 biennium grouped in the already consolidated four main initiatives that effectively contribute to and impact the Intermediate Results 20, 21 and 22 of the PAHO/WHO Strategic Planning 2020-2025:
– Information and Knowledge Management. It gathers activities related to the management, updating and operation of Virtual Health Library (VHL) information sources, such as LILACS, LIS, LEYES, DeCS and Events Directory, in addition to activities to strengthen the VHL collaboration network, to promote access and use of scientific and technical information in health, capacity building, scientific writing and communication, and collaboration with GIM, ProEthos initiatives, among others;
– Intelligence in Health Sciences Information. Its main objectives are to strengthen the use of Health Sciences terminology to support the organization and exchange of scientific and technical knowledge; the generation of infometrics on scientific and technical production in Latin America and the Caribbean published in LILACS; the development of a tool to recover the VHL information sources in a contextualized way in health systems; and the publication of national, thematic and regional profiles of scientific production in the region;
– Information Services. It gathers activities for the development, management and operation of health information services that aim to facilitate the access and use of the VHL and contribute to reducing the gap that exists between scientific knowledge and practice in the health field. Are included here knowledge translation services (eBlueInfo, Second Opinion Formative – SOF, and others), the personalized service “My VHL”, VHL user service and the improvement of the VHL search interface; and
– BIREME’s Leadership and Management. It considers the full implementation of the new institutional framework of the Center, in line with the recommendations of its Governance Committees (CA and CC), whose meetings will take place twice a year in the presence of their respective members and experts appointed and originary from the countries in the Region. In addition, it aims at maintaining the effective operation of the Center in line with the PAHO/WHO recommendations, policies, procedures and processes considering the administration of procurement and contracts, effective staff management and development, travel and event management, provision of IT infrastructure and facilities, as well as support in project monitoring. Finally, to keep institutional communication effective and support the monitoring of BIREME’s BWP 20-21.
A little more about the PAHO/WHO Strategic Planning
The Work Plan of the Pan American Health Organization 2020-2021 is a biannual program that aims to support the implementation of the Strategic Plan of the Organization whose current version has been defined for the period 2020-2025. In short:
“Under the theme “Equity, the heart of health”, the Plan catalyzes efforts in Member States to reduce inequities in health in and between countries and territories, in order to improve health outcomes. It identifies specific actions to address health inequality, such as those recommended by the Committee on Equity and Inequalities in Health in the Americas, with the guidance of the High Level Commission on Universal Health. Four cross-cutting themes are central to addressing health determinants: equity, gender, ethnicity and human rights. In addition to highlighting an integrated multi sectoral approach, it applies evidence-based public health strategies, such as health promotion, the focus on primary health care, and social protection in health, to address social determinants.
In addition to directly addressing the regional priorities established in ASSA2030, this Plan is aligned with the 13th General Work Program (13th GWP) of the World Health Organization (WHO), and with other regional and global mandates in force during the planning period. The outlined results chain contains 28 impact indicators, 28 intermediate results, and 99 intermediate result indicators, all of which have been extensively reviewed by Member States and the Organization’s technical staff.”
PAHO/WHO continues with its results-based management (RBM) approach to formulating plans, taking care of programming, preparing budgets and monitoring performance.
For an efficient control of the implementation of the Work Plan, the results in products and services developed by the Chapters and Specialized Centers are measured through the semi-annual goal indicators. At the end of each semester a report with the status of results (Performance Monitoring Assessment, PMA) obtained in each one of the indicators by each member is generated, sharing the results achieved by the Organization in each BWP, composing the reports that evaluate the performance of the Organization as a whole.
Finally, the results of the biennium are also submitted for the consideration of health authorities in the countries, so that the progress is reflected in addition to the identification of opportunities and the acknowledgement of the challenges and lessons learned, so as to also keep them in focus and included in the efforts and mechanisms of institutional and regional strategic planning.