Author: Lilian Callo

World Leprosy Day is celebrated on the last Sunday in January. In 2023, this international day is an opportunity to raise awareness about the disease and combat stigma and discrimination related to leprosy. The theme of the 2023 campaign is “Act Now. End Leprosy”. Learn about the products and services developed by BIREME that contribute to the scientific and technical knowledge about leprosy dedicated to researchers, health professionals and people living with the disease.

The year 2022 was marked by a series of achievements and challenges for the Latin American and Caribbean Center on Health Sciences Information (BIREME/PAHO/WHO). Still under the effects of the covid-19 pandemic and in a partial remote work regime since October, BIREME has advanced in its mission to support the countries of the region with scientific and technical health information through its products and services centered on the Virtual Library in Health (VHL) and its sources of information.

Meeting on the 2022 results of TA6 and TA9 to the Term of Cooperation 95, between PAHO/WHO Brazil, through BIREME and the Ministry of Health, was held on December 15^th and 16^th. In addition, the current year’s TA4/TC93 results were also shared. The meeting was coordinated by the Director of BIREME, João Paulo Souza, who had the support of the BIREME team and Shirlei Rodrigues (CGDI Coordinator), and Sandra Cristina Teixeira (Dissemination of Technical-Scientific Information in Health), both of the General Coordination of Documentation and Information of the Secretariat of Administrative Affairs, linked to the Executive Secretariat of the Ministry of Health of Brazil.

Following WHO guidelines in its strategy for Traditional, Complementary and Integrative Medicine (TCIM), PAHO/WHO Brazil, in partnership with BIREME, held a webinar on the last December 13^th to publicize two important initiatives that contribute to the strengthening and integration of TCIM into health systems and services in the Americas and the Caribbean, and to increase the resolution and sustainability of national health systems.

The process of evaluating and selecting journals from Brazil for the Latin American and Caribbean Literature in Health Sciences (LILACS) database is carried out annually, an activity in the context of TC93, between PAHO and the Ministry of Health of Brazil for the development and improvement of BIREME. This committee met on the last December 12^th, to carry out the last stage of the journal selection process for LILACS, which started in July 2022.

BIREME, through the LILACS database coordinating team, with the support of the PAHO Office in Honduras and the Country Coordination of the VHL and LILACS, carried out a pilot study with the editors of scientific journals in Honduras, which resulted in their improvement of and an award for Innovative Experience in the context of the response to covid-19 and public health granted to the Revista Médica Hondureña.

The inequalities which perpetuate the AIDS pandemic are not inevitable; we can tackle them. This World AIDS Day, 1 December, UNAIDS – Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS co-sponsored by PAHO – is urging each of us to address the inequalities which are holding back progress in ending AIDS.

The 13^th Brazilian Congress of Collective Health, organized by the Brazilian Association of Collective Health – Abrasco – in 2022 had the theme ‘Health is democracy: diversity, equity and social justice’ and was held in Salvador, Bahia, on November 19-24, 2022. The event was supported by the PAHO/WHO Officet in Brazil and BIREME, which participated in its stand, serving as a focal point for the promotion of its products and services, publications by PAHO’s technical areas and book launches from the Organization.

In the context of the BIREME/PAHO/WHO technical cooperation in Latin America and the Caribbean in the management of technical and scientific information in health and in follow-up to the actions to move forward with the initiative of the Caribbean Virtual Health Library, training took place in early November on how to use the FI-Admin tool, developed by BIREME, to enter data into the MedCarib database.

The 6^th National Conference on Indigenous Health (CNSI) took place from November 14 to 18, 2022, in Brasília, promoted by the National Health Council (CNS) and the Special Secretariat for Indigenous Health Care (SESAI). BIREME participated in the event through the PAHO/WHO Brazil booth, where it made presentations to promote products and services related to Indigenous Health.