In an online meeting held on February 23, 2024, BIREME presented the main results achieved in the second half of 2023, within the scope of the Addendum TA6 and TA9 of the Cooperation Agreement 95 (TC95) between the Pan American Health Organization/World Health Organization, through its Representation in Brazil (PAHO/WHO Brazil) and the General Coordination of Documentation and Information of the Executive Secretariat of the Ministry of Health of Brazil (CGDI/ SE/MoH).
The meeting was coordinated by the director João Paulo Souza, with the support of the BIREME team and with the presence of the General Coordinator of Documentation and Information Eva Patricia Alvares Lopes; and Sandra Cristina Teixeira, technical responsible for the Dissemination of Technical-Scientific Information in Health of the Ministry of Health. The session was also attended by the Advisor for Budget Planning and Financial Monitoring of PAHO Brazil, Paula Villas-Boas de Oliveira Carvalho.
The TC95 was established in 2016, with the aim of supporting processes to improve management practices within the Executive Secretariat of the Ministry of Health (SE/MoH). Under the addendum terms TA6 and TA9, BIREME leads the series of four macro activities listed below, which foster and strengthen the Brazilian Unified Health System (SUS) through actions to disseminate and manage the technical and scientific knowledge generated in the health sector.
TA6/TC95:
Macroactivity 10: Promote the use of information with open access and technical-scientific evidence within the scope of the SUS Health System; and
Macroactivity A11: Strengthen the management and dissemination of the Virtual Health Library in Brazil.
TA9/TC95:
Macroactivity 12: Promote the improvement and innovation of tools for technical and scientific information sources in health within the scope of the SUS Health System.
Macroactivity 13: Promote the improvement of the management and dissemination of the Virtual Health Library in Brazil.
The following are highlights of the main results achieved in the period:
- Expansion of the bibliographic control and improvement of the quality of the description of the scientific and technical literature of Brazil in the information sources of the VHL, with about 60 thousand records of the Brazilian network made up of 146 Cooperating Centers;
- About 20 databases are constantly updated;
- Participation of actors from the Brazilian network in all sessions held for capacity development;
- Regular operation of the following instances: MoH VHL, VHL Station Network Portal, BiblioSUS Network Portal and VHL Brazil; and
- Support for the organization of the VHL Network meetings in November 2023, with the presence of more than 60 participants from 19 countries in the Latin American and Caribbean Region.
The BIREME and CGDI teams, in coordination with PAHO Brazil, will continue to discuss the prospects for future developments, with a new addendum to the TC95, aiming at innovation with high-level health information products and services. In fact, BIREME will support CGDI in the creation of the COVID-19 Pandemic Memorial repository. These activities will be integrated into a new project, which respective new TA will be established and agreed upon in the second quarter of 2024.