The 10th Session of the Scientific Committee (SC) of the Latin American and Caribbean Center on Health Sciences Information (BIREME/PAHO/WHO) was held in hybrid form (face-to-face and online) on August 27, 2024. The main objective of this session was to present the results achieved in 2023 and those in the context of BIREME’s Work Plan for 2024-2025, aligned with the BIREME Strategy 2023-2025 “Towards Information Industry 4.0”. The meeting provided a space for the members of the Committee to make recommendations that contribute to the continuous improvement of the health information products and services offered by the Center.
The 10th Session of the SC was attended by the following members, recognized experts in their fields, appointed by the Advisory Committee d for a three-year term: Amanda Wilson (Information Management, United States of America), Fabio Tarasow (Education, Argentina), Jorge Barreto (Evidence-Informed Health, Brazil), and Rodolfo Pacagnella (Artificial Intelligence applied to Health, Brazil), as well as Sebastián García Saisó, director of the PAHO/WHO Department of Evidence and Intelligence for Action in Health (EIH) and the BIREME team led by its Director, João Paulo Souza.
During the session, João Paulo presented BIREME’s work plan for the coming years, highlighting the goals aligned with the Center’s 2023-2025 Strategy, which seeks to accelerate digital transformation and innovation in health information services. In his presentation, he highlighted the essential role played by the Scientific Committee in the Center’s strategic orientation, ensuring that its products and services continue to respond effectively to the needs of the Region.
An enriching discussion followed, during which the members of the Committee made valuable contributions, addressing issues such as the virtualization of digital libraries, the personalization of information products and services, and highlighted the importance of incorporating advanced machine learning technologies to generate natural language in the users’ interface.
Among the main contributions that will form part of a report of recommendations still to be approved were:
- Prioritize the incorporation of broad language models for generating content and summaries aimed at users;
- Observe the transparency and quality of evidence in the information retrieval process and in the generation of derivatives; and
- Centralize evaluations of performance and scope of developments in user experience and satisfaction.
These recommendations will be incorporated into BIREME’s work plan and will serve as a guide for the implementation of activities in the coming months and biennium. The final, detailed report of the session, which includes all the recommendations and discussions, will soon be shared with Committee members and BIREME staff for evaluation and subsequent action.
For more information on the SC and other BIREME governance meetings, visit the BIREME Governance Committees portal.