The Virtual Health Library on Traditional, Complementary and Integrative Medicine of the Americas (BVS MTCI Americas), inaugurated last March, was presented and promoted by BIREME/PAHO/WHO in two important events held in the United States, thanks to the initiative coordinated by the Health Services and Access Unit, and the Office of Equity, Gender, and Cultural Diversity of PAHO/WHO.
The most recent version of the Health Sciences Descriptors (DeCS) is now available for user consultation. DeCS is updated along with the US National Library of Medicine’s Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) update, which happens at the end of every year. The update involves the insertion of new descriptors and the removal, modification and/or hierarchical repositioning of current descriptors.
MyVHL, the personalized information product for users of the Virtual Health Library (VHL) launched by BIREME in August 2017, stores information and user preferences for a series of bibliographic services. Recently, new functionalities have been added to the application, based on requests and suggestions from VHL users, which are already more than 20,000, registered up to April 2018.
The 16th Meeting of the Brazil Nursing VHL Advisory Committee was held at BIREME with representatives of the Brazilian Network, including teaching and research institutions, class associations and funding agencies. With the main objective of defining a work plan for the 2018-2020 period, working groups discussed numerous topics of interest and defined selection criteria for journals and other documents on the field, as well as a new design for the portal. In the year in which PAHO/WHO highlights and broadens the role of nurses in primary health care, the consolidation of the Nursing VHL strengthens and supports nursing professionals in Brazil and the Region.
The relocation of the facilities of the Latin American and Caribbean Center on Health Sciences Information (BIREME), which began in mid-2016, brought about the opportunity to inaugurate a new design for the offices, with open spaces occupied by individuals and fixed and temporary equipment, as well as restricted spaces for meetings. This new layout for the workspace has proven to be very successful and may be used as a model for other offices of the Organization.
The 10th edition of the Regional Congress on Health Sciences Information (CRICS10) was officially launched on April 19 during a virtual session presented by PAHO/WHO Assistant Director, Dr. Francisco Becerra and BIREME Director Dr. Diego González. Under the theme “Advancing towards the 2030 Agenda: contributions of evidence and knowledge”, the congress intends to emphasize global priorities – the 2030 Agenda and its Sustainable Development Goals – through information, evidence and knowledge.
One of PAHO/WHO key countries, Haiti is undergoing evident development process. In particular, the education and health systems have a very important role for the progress and welfare of the Haitian population. To support the country in information management, the Director of BIREME, Dr. Diego González, made an official visit to the country in March. Based on meetings with leaders of the health sector and higher education institutions, through the PAHO/WHO Office in Haiti, opportunities for technical cooperation and joint actions with BIREME have emerged.
The Brazilian Network of Information in Health Sciences was present at the XX National Seminar of University Libraries (SNBU), which took place in Salvador, Bahia (Brazil), on April 15-20. At the stand of BIREME and the Ministry of Health, an extensive program was made available, which included presentations focused on the interests of the Brazilian network and other participants, products and services of the Virtual Health Library (VHL), mini courses and individualized service for users. At the occasion, the launching of the 10th edition of the Regional Congress on Health Science Information and the 7th Regional Meeting of the Virtual Health Library was announced; the events will take place in December 2018 in São Paulo, Brazil.
Technical cooperation between PAHO Brazil and BIREME, together with the Superintendency of Professional Management and Health Education of the Secretaria de Estado da Saúde do Tocantins (SES-TO) promotes a Scientific Communication training activity for the employees of the Escola Tocantinense do SUS. In introducing concepts of scientific communication in health sciences, the course aims to educate health professionals on the need to report results of clinical research and observation, as well as to give visibility to data and reports produced by SES-TO.
The main results of TC93 between BIREME, the Brazilian Ministry of Health and PAHO/WHO Brazil contribute to the priorities of the country’s government, especially in the application of newly generated knowledge to health practices and in the prioritization of health topics in scientific research. They also contribute to the PAHO/WHO Strategic Plan and its Strategies and Plans of Action on e-Health, Knowledge Management and Communications and Universal Access to Health and Universal Health Coverage.