In order to strengthen the development of the Indigenous Peoples VHL (IP VHL), BIREME/PAHO/WHO intensified its cooperation with the Ministry of Health’s Special Secretariat for Indigenous Health (SESAI) by holding a series of technical and strategic meetings in September and October 2024. The meetings consolidated new guidelines and targets for the activities of Technical Cooperation Term 93 (TC93), which focuses on increasing the visibility of Brazil’s actions, policies, strategies, research and projects related to Indigenous Health.
Besides BIREME technical teams involved in the production and implementation of the project’s activities, the meetings were attended by representatives of the counterpart, reinforcing the joint commitment to increasing the visibility of Brazil’s actions, policies, strategies, research and projects related to Indigenous Health. Some of the themes highlighted in these sessions included a revisit to the user survey carried out by BIREME in the DSEI Cuiabá in 2022, which was a dialogue with communities in indigenous territories, an essential strategy to ensure that the content and resources of the IP VHL meet the users demands, reflecting their realities and culture.
Technical and management meetings: main advances and deliberations
For the IP VHL portal, a series of collaborative activities and workshops between technical teams, consultants and counterparts have been driving the development of the Portal. On August 21, a meeting was held to review and align development activities for the new IP VHL portal, with representatives from Fiocruz, SESAI and PAHO Brazil.
This meeting also included an analysis of the steps already delivered and planning for the continuity of activities. As part of the strategic decisions, it was agreed that indigenous artists would be included in the portal design process to ensure that the graphic representations were appropriate and representative of indigenous peoples.
In September, activities progressed with a series of workshops focused on specific aspects of the portal’s development. On September 3, the 1st Workshop on aligning and redefining personas took place, with a collaborative dynamic to identify the portal’s user personas. Thirty-four personas were identified, four of which were considered priorities for the project: indigenous health managers, indigenous health workers, indigenous and non-indigenous researchers, and indigenous and non-indigenous students.
The 2nd workshop, held on September 12, focused on redefining the portal users’ problems, using design thinking techniques to transform these needs into solvable challenges. According to Juliana Sousa, Development Supervisor at BIREME, it is an effective approach to structuring a prioritization matrix by urgency and importance, organizing the 10 main groups of problems into activities aimed at advancing the portal.
On September 29, the teams took part in a virtual management meeting attended by Giovana Cruz Mandulão, General Coordinator for Knowledge Management, Information, Evaluation and Monitoring at the Special Secretariat for Indigenous Health (CGCOIM/SESAI), BIREME Director João Paulo Souza, as well as the leaders and technical focal points of the counterparts and PAHO, under the coordination of Verônica Abdala. “I would like to start by congratulating the whole team. I don’t think we have made this much progress since the last time I took part in the workshop, and it’s gratifying to see how far we have come. Our entire GC team has been dedicated, recognizing the importance of this work for the Indigenous Health Secretariat. And we see how the creation of this VHL is also key to building SESAI’s memory, something we miss very much, and which will be of great value to the current and future administrations,” began Giovana Mandulão.
On the same occasion, the Director of BIREME, João Paulo Souza, highlighted the initiative under development for the World Health Organization’s Traditional Medicines Global Library (TMGL) and the possibilities of integrating information on Brazilian indigenous medicines with this global platform under construction. “We have a historic opportunity to be represented on this platform, as Brazil’s IP VHL, since its first launches,” said João Paulo Souza.
Finally, a face-to-face meeting was held in Brasilia on October 29, 2024, with the teams representing CGCOIM/SESAI, including Mariana Castilho and Mairu Kuady, as well as Akemi Kamimura from PAHO/WHO Brazil, Verônica Abdala and Angélica de Paula from BIREME. The agenda included three meetings: the first focused on reviewing and aligning the activities of the Work Plan, presenting BIREME’s products that can support the fulfillment of the goals and defining priorities. Next, it dealt with updating the Work Plan, highlighting the need for a term to adjust goals and expected results and the flow of information between the Ministry of Health and SESAI. Finally, it addressed the WHO’s global action to strengthen traditional health practices, discussing the inclusion of Brazilian indigenous medicine in the Traditional Medicines Global Library and the possibility of a workshop with indigenous knowledge holders to ensure adequate representation of traditional knowledge.
Next steps
As recommendations, the teams decided:
- Launch of the Indigenous Peoples VHL Portal: Scheduled for December 2024, the portal will offer a comprehensive platform for accessing information on indigenous health.
- Implementation of a governance structure: To ensure the quality and continuous updating of the VHL collection, a governance structure will be established.
- Expansion of survey with health workers: Survey with indigenous health workers will be expanded to include different regional contexts in order to identify and meet specific needs.
These efforts reaffirm BIREME and SESAI’s commitment to promoting indigenous health in Brazil, emphasizing the importance of information and knowledge as pillars for strengthening health practices among indigenous peoples.