Author: Lilian Callo

The most recent edition of the Health Sciences Descriptors (DeCS) has just been made available for online consultation at the DeCS/MeSH portal. Its update has been done annually, as for more than 35 years, and reflects the annual update of the Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) of the National Library of Medicine and involves processes of inserting new descriptors and removing or repositioning others. Discover the novelties of the 2023 edition of DeCS.

PAHO/WHO, through its Country Offices and Centers, including BIREME, works in the countries of the Region through technical cooperation programs and projects. The terms of cooperation (TC) are among the instruments most used by the Organization to consolidate this practice. BIREME/PAHO/WHO continues to develop and improve products and services to facilitate access and use of scientific and technical evidence in health in LA&C countries.

BIREME’s information technology infrastructure uses and makes available to its personnel equipment that periodically must be replaced. In this sense and in line with the PAHO/WHO donation process, in October 2022 the call for non-profit institutions interested in receiving such equipment was initiated and in April of the current year the donation was completed.

World Kidney Day is a global awareness campaign aimed at raising awareness of the importance of our kidneys. On March 9, 2023, the World Kidney Day call to action is “Kidney Health for All: Prepare for the Unexpected, Support the Vulnerable”.

The purpose of the XI Session of the BIREME/PAHO/WHO Advisory Committee, held virtually on February 8, 2023, was to report to the Committee members on the progress of the management and technical cooperation program of the Center. The meeting was attended by appointed members from Brazil, Chile, Costa Rica, and Guatemala, in addition to PAHO/WHO, which is also one of the Committee’s permanent members. Learn about the main recommendations agreed upon at the meeting.

In February 2023, Carla Saenz (PAHO/WHO Regional Advisor on Bioethics) visited BIREME and met with the Director of the Center, João Paulo Souza, to discuss collaboration opportunities in three main topics: (1) Development of a research project on “How to communicate the notion of risk to the lay population?”; (2) Mapping health knowledge gaps project; and (3) Health implementation research. These themes are part of a new BIREME Cooperation Strategy 2023-2025, under development, considering the successful mutual cooperation in the context of the ProEthos platform (HSS/PAHO/WHO).

The Course on Access and Use of Scientific Information in Health was published in 2017 in its first version, having certified more than 20 thousand participants by 2022. BIREME has just revised and launched a new version in Portuguese, Spanish, English, and French, directed to professionals, researchers, managers, and students who search for information and scientific evidence in the main sources of information in the Virtual Health Library and aims to develop technical skills to carry out efficiently a search for scientific and technical information.

Due to the dynamics of knowledge production, the revision of thematic categories of the DeCS thesaurus is a continuous need in the context of terminological updating. The category Homeopathy was launched in the 1990 edition of DeCS, in collaboration with experts from the Associação Paulista de Homeopatia. The last revision of the category Homeopathy was more than 10 years ago. For this reason, since October 2022, BIREME has been making technical adjustments to these descriptors, supported by experts.

In coordination with PAHO/WHO Brazil, BIREME was present in activities and events in Brasilia, D.F., aiming to strengthen its technical cooperation program and institutionality in Brazil. We highlight the meetings of Director João Paulo Souza at the Ministry of Health and PAHO Brazil, and the participation of Administrator Silvia de Valentin in a workshop on Prevention and Response to Sexual Exploitation, Abuse and Harassment promoted by the Ethics area of the Organization.

World Cancer Day 2023, celebrated on February 4th, advocates “Close the care gaps” and the call to unite our voices and take action. PAHO/WHO joins this campaign to call everyone, collectively and individually, to commit to strengthen actions aimed to improve access to quality care, including screening, early detection, treatment, and palliative care. BIREME, in its mission to provide access to scientific and technical health information, makes cancer information available in the Virtual Health Library Cancer Prevention and Control and through other search tools.