Author: anafranzon

Held virtually on August 29, 2024, the XIII Session of the BIREME Advisory Committee was attended by members representing PAHO and four countries from Latin America and the Caribbean: Brazil, Cuba, Chile, and Trinidad and Tobago. The 2023 results and the developments of the 2024-2025 Biennial Work Plan were acknowledged, with a focus on the implementation of the 2023-2025 Strategy and the incorporation of advanced technologies in health information products and services.

The 10^th Session of the BIREME/PAHO/WHO Scientific Committee was held on August 27, 2024. The main objective of this session was to present and discuss BIREME’s work plan for 2024-2025, aligned with the BIREME Strategy 2023-2025 “Towards Information Industry 4.0”. Recommendations highlight priorities for health information, including the incorporation of broad language models and the personalization of products and services.

During his visit to BIREME, Sebastián García Saisó, Director of the Department of Evidence and Intelligence for Action in Health (EIH) at PAHO, participated in the Governance Committee sessions and a series of strategic meetings focused on the implementation of the 2023-2025 Strategy. Throughout the week, discussions with the Center’s teams centered on the ongoing digital transformation projects and the work priorities for the coming years.

In the first half of 2024, team members revisited the expected results and realigned the work plan for the implementation of the project for a national instance of the Virtual Health Library (VHL) for Indigenous Health in Brazil. Recent activities include the development of new strategies, a partnership with Fiocruz, and the scheduled launch of a new portal expected for the second half of 2024.

The Mpox Window of Knowledge has been updated to provide up-to-date and reliable information in response to the WHO’s recent declaration of a public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC) related to the increase in Mpox cases. This resource is essential to support disease surveillance, preparedness and response in the Region of the Americas.

In September, BIREME promotes World Alzheimer’s Month, an international campaign to raise awareness of dementia and tackle stigma. In 2024, PAHO once again joins the associations dedicated to the cause, together with all those involved in treatment, care and support for people living with dementia in the Region of the Americas and around the world. See details in the article.

In collaboration with BIREME, WHO is moving forward with the Global Library of Traditional Medicines. During this semester, the mock-up of the portal has been developed and a quick review of the bibliography on digital sources has been carried out. In addition, the first contents of the global collection are already being registered. See details in the article.

The initiative seeks to respond to the recent epidemiological alert issued by PAHO. In 2024, and for the first time since 2010, PAHO published a series of six alerts and updates on the situation and the risk to communities. The Oropouche fever has affected communities in five countries: Brazil, Bolivia, Peru, Cuba, and Colombia, with more than 7,700 reported cases.

Besides Copilot used by PAHO/WHO, BIREME also adopted the ChatGPT Plus tool to optimize technological processes, improve technical support and code quality, and increase productivity and innovation in the technology area. This initiative is in line with the BIREME Strategy 2023-2025, which seeks to promote modernization and operational efficiency through the incorporation of advanced technologies.

BIREME has launched a series of five technical sessions especially aimed at the English-speaking Caribbean public, following the program already in place for Spanish- and Portuguese-speaking countries. The initiative is part of the Center’s 2024-2025 Biennial Work Plan and the monthly calendar until November 2024 is now available. Check it out.