In September, BIREME had the opportunity to take part in major events in the field of Health Sciences, which were carried out in three regions of Brazil. At the beginning of the month, from September 4 to 6, the 9th North-East Congress of Municipal Health Secretariats was held in Salvador, Bahia. From the 18th to the 21st, organized by the Federal University of Mato Grosso do Sul (UFMS), the 8th Midwest Congress on Emerging, Reemerging and Neglected Infectious Diseases took place. And the month’s agenda culminated with the celebrations of the SciELO Program’s 25th anniversary, with the event “Open Science with IDEIA – Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, Accessibility and Impact”, which took place in São Paulo from the 25th to the 29th.
9th North/Northeast Congress of Municipal Health Departments
The 9th North/Northeast Congress of Municipal Health Departments and the 10th Congress of Municipal Health Secretaries of Bahia were held simultaneously in Salvador, capital city of the largest state in Brazil’s Northeast region, with the theme “The specificities of the North and Northeast in the Regionalization of the SUS”. The event gathered managers, health workers and representatives of civil society involved in social control of public policies. Technical experts from PAHO’s Office in Brazil were also present, including its Representative, Dr. Socorro Gross, who participated as a speaker at the event’s Opening Table.
Coordinating BIREME’s participation in the Congress, Ana Cyntia Baraldi, Partnerships and Special Projects Advisor, contributed as a panellist at the Satellite Table “Scientific Research in Public Health in the North-Northeast Region”, during which she was able to highlight issues related to the enhancement of scientific thinking in professional training, the confrontation of disinformation/infodemic and BIREME’s main products and services that support evidence-based decision-making in health. BIREME was also represented at the PAHO stand during the Exhibition Fair “Aqui Tem SUS“, promoting products and services that support political decision-making, in particular the Evidence Maps, VHL and Second Formative Opinion (SOF), inserted in the context of Telehealth.
Another highlight from the mission to Bahia was the bilateral meeting with the Deputy Mayor and Secretary of Health of Salvador, Ms. Ana Paula Matos. At the meeting, they discussed the needs of health information management in the municipality of Salvador, presenting a solution that could be agreed between the parties, called “BIREME Cities”. About this new project, Ana Cyntia Baraldi indicated that “It is a solution that will include a VHL portal for the management of technical and scientific information in the municipality of Salvador, a SOF package for matrix support in Primary Health Care, and support for the intelligent management of indicators”.
8th Midwest Congress on Emerging, Re-emerging and Neglected Infectious Diseases
Organized by the Graduate Program in Infectious and Parasitic Diseases of the School of Medicine of the Federal University of Mato Grosso do Sul (PPGDIP/FAMED/UFMS), the 8th Midwest Congress on Emerging, Reemerging and Neglected Infectious Diseases (DIERN) was held from September 18 to 21, 2023, in Campo Grande, Mato Grosso do Sul.
Highlighted in the event’s program, the Evidence Maps produced by BIREME were in the scope of two workshops and a lecture, which were coordinated by Elisabeth Biruel, librarian in the Information Services area. Held on September 19, the mini course “Artificial intelligence and evidence maps: how to do it?” was promoted at the invitation of Fiocruz, with eight hours of teaching time. “More than 50 health professionals were trained in techniques and tools for the creation and effective use of evidence maps,” said Elisabeth.
On the following day, September the 20th, the session “Evidence-informed Practices and Policies” was moderated by Sandra Maria Leone do Valle de Oliveira (Fiocruz-MS), with Biruel’s lecture “Evidence Maps: the experience of the Virtual Health Library”, together with the experience of Bruno Guedes Alcoforado Aguiar (UFPI) with his presentation “Maps of scientific evidence applied to emerging and neglected tropical diseases”. The round table was preceded by an opening lecture given by the international guest Dr. Preethy D’Souza, from The University College London, on the subject of “Transferring systematic review evidence to local contexts”.
Held every two years since 2009 by PPGDIP/FAMED/UFMS, DIERN has established itself as a national event for scientific communication, characterized by its interaction with research, teaching and SUS health care services. For Elisabeth Biruel, this being BIREME’s first participation in the Congress, the direct benefits of participation stand out. “As in addition to sharing knowledge and experiences, we have created opportunities for new partnerships and technical cooperation with other institutions and professionals in the field.”
SciELO 25 Years Conference
Closing the month of September, between the 27th and 29th, in São Paulo-SP, it was with great enthusiasm that the BIREME team participated in the program that celebrated the 25th anniversary of the SciELO program. Over the course of three days, the “SciELO 25 Years International Conference” brought together various sectors, including researchers, experts and workers dedicated to the central theme of “Open Science with IDEIA – Impact, Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Accessibility”. Through a partnership with the organization of the event, BIREME’s technical and management teams had the opportunity to participate as listeners in the activities, both in person and online.
An intense program covered important topics for open science, such as: open access, open data, information platforms and applications, multilingualism, publication of pre-prints, open peer review, and standards, methods, techniques, quality practices for scientific communications, interoperability and accessibility. The opening lecture was given by Jan Velterop, a specialist in scientific publishing and an internationally recognized advocate of Open Access. In his presentation, entitled “We loved open access so much”, Jan Velterop paid tribute to the history and relevance of SciELO’s journey in repositioning scientific literature hitherto produced on the margins of the “global academy”.
On the same day, September 27, João Paulo Souza, Director of BIREME, gave a talk at the table of international authorities coordinated by the President of CAPES – Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel, Dr. Mercedes Maria da Cunha Bustamante. With a presentation entitled “Information and emerging public health issues in the Americas”, João Paulo Souza noted the strategic relevance of open science to the ongoing digital transformation and the new 4.0 information and communication products and technologies.
The following experts completed the session: Michael Arentoft, European Commission; Adauto Cândido Soares, UNESCO Brazil; Johan Rooryck, cOAlition S; Félix García Lausín, Secretaría General Iberoamericana (SEGIB) and Barend Mons, Committee on Data (CODATA) and FAIR Foundation.
At the end, a session summarizing the program was coordinated by the science journalist Fabrício Marques (Pesquisa FAPESP Magazine and Pesquisa Brasil Podcast), on the theme “What’s new and what are the expectations for the next 25 years?”, with the participation of Sabine Righetti (Bori Agency) and Francisco Osorio (Chilean Network of Open Access Scientific Journals of the Universities of the State of Chile). The closing session was led by SciELO/Fapesp Program Director Abel Packer, with a lecture entitled “SciELO Network: The Future is Open – new challenges for the SciELO Network”.
Links of interest:
IDEIA Declaration – SciELO 25 Years
We loved open access so much – SciELO 25 Years
8th Midwest Congress on Emerging, Reemerging and Neglected Infectious Diseases – (ufms.br)
9th North-East Congress of Municipal Health Secretariats (conasems.org.br)