The resumption of the RIPSA Project (Interagency Health Information Network) under the coordination of the Department of Monitoring and Evaluation of the Unified Health System (DEMAS), a unit of the Secretariat of Information and Digital Health (SEIDIGI) of the Ministry of Health (MS), was formalized through Ordinance GM/MS No. 1,915, published on June 27, 2022. Established in 1996, in partnership with the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), it established the creation of a minimum set of health data and indicators for periodic annual collection in the countries of the Americas, which could support situation and trend analysis, supporting the formulation, management and evaluation of public health policies. The new phase of the project foresees updates and launches of new products.
RIPSA is a non-hierarchical, collaborative, supportive and integrated network, composed of governmental and non-governmental institutions, aimed at the generation, analysis and dissemination of data and indicators applied to public health policies in Brazil. The work of the Technical Secretariat, under the coordination of DEMAS/MS, will also be conducted by representatives of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), the National Council of Health Secretaries (CONASS), and the National Council of Municipal Health Secretariats (CONASEMS). The partnership with BIREME takes place within the scope of the 8th TA of the Cooperation Term – TC 95 – Management Improvement of the Executive Secretariat of the Ministry of Health of Brazil – SE/MS.
The main objective of the project established between DEMAS/SEIDIGI/MS and BIREME/PAHO/WHO is to reactivate the RIPSA portal as an information and knowledge management tool produced by the Network, contributing to the promotion of access and use of relevant information for the formulation of public health policies and assisting managers in decision making. With a duration of 60 months, the project also provides for the review and updating of the collection of information sources (content) of the RIPSA Portal and the development of a new platform for the publication of the Indicator Qualification Sheets, which is the main technical guidance instrument for the user of the Indicator and Basic Data (IDB), which exposes specific concepts and criteria.
For the DEMAS team, the new stage of the project contributes to enabling and improving institutional articulation and enhancing, more effectively, the processes of analysis, production and standardization of data and information for health in the country. Paulo Sellera, director of the Department of Monitoring, Evaluation and Dissemination of Strategic Health Information of the Secretariat of Information and Digital Health of the Ministry of Health (DEMAS/SEIDIGI/MS), points out that “the partnership with BIREME represents a strategic and synergistic collaboration in the health area, which aims to support the analysis of the health situation and its trends, in addition to identifying health inequalities and standardizing estimates”.
Links of interest:
Interagency Network of Information for Health (RIPSA)