On April 25, 2025, BIREME hosted a meeting with teams from the Ministry of Health, PAHO/WHO Brazil and experts to establish the joint work plan for the project to develop the future “COVID-19 Pandemic Memorial” online portal. The initiative will be implemented under Adjustment Term 13 (TA13) of Term of Cooperation 95 (TC95), in coordination with the Cultural Center of the Ministry of Health (CCMS), the General Coordination of Documentation and Information (CGDI), the Undersecretariat of Administrative Affairs (SAA) of the Ministry’s Executive Secretariat (SE) and BIREME/PAHO/WHO.
As a result, another stage of technical cooperation is effectively underway between the institutions involved in projects aimed at strengthening memory, communication and document preservation policies in the context of public health. The Pandemic Memorial will be both a physical and digital space focusing on testimonies about the remarkable experiences and stories of individuals during the pandemic, including the actions of health workers, and reflect on the challenges faced during this critical period in recent history.
Regarding the relevance of the project, Fabíola Simoni Santos, Head of the Cultural Center of the Ministry of Health (CCMS/CGDI/SAA/SE), emphasized: “The implementation of the COVID-19 Memorial repository is of utmost importance, as it embodies the concepts of memory and reparation for civil society and the governmental, academic, and research sectors. It is about ensuring that this historical moment is remembered and that the testimonies and records captured from this period are always preserved and accessible. In addition to being innovative in its theme, the project also stands out for the digital robustness that is being planned for its implementation.”
The agreed work plan involves management and governance stages, the development of the documentary and bibliographic collections that will make up the repository, the content management system, the development of the online portal itself, and communication and dissemination actions. The work schedule for the development of the COVID-19 Memorial portal foresees activities and deliveries scheduled until August 2026 in its first phase.
During the meeting held at BIREME, the guidelines for the development of the project were also aligned, based on the mapping of Brazilian and Latin American memory initiatives, and including legal and ethical premises, among other essential aspects for the success and sustainability of technical cooperation.
The building of the COVID-19 Pandemic Memorial online portal represents a collective commitment to preserving historical memory, strengthening Brazil’s Unified Health System (SUS), valuing science and promoting human rights. For the Brazilian Ministry of Health, the initiative is anchored in the conviction that remembering is an essential step towards learning, repairing and transforming.
The teams from BIREME, CCMS, CGDI of the Ministry of Health, PAHO Brazil and preservation experts were unanimous about the lessons to be learned, perspectives on the results to be achieved and synergies so that the initiative can also be a reference for other countries in the Latin American and the Caribbean region. “The development of the Virtual Health Memorial for COVID-19 represents a breakthrough in the digital frontiers of information products and services, by integrating memory, innovation, and technology for the collective good. This powerful model places cutting-edge technology and digital innovation at the service of public health. From this first implementation, we hope to develop a new line of technical cooperation that enables countries in our region to document the experiences and journeys of their populations toward the realization of the right to health for all in the Americas,” emphasized Director João Paulo Souza.