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The access indicators of the Virtual Health Library for the year 2019 are impressive. More than 10 million access sessions, +41 million pageviews, +6.5 million users of the information services offered by BIREME through the VHL Regional Portal. These services are intended to promote the democratization of equitable access to scientific and technical information in health, and to meet the information needs of health professionals in Latin America and the Caribbean.

World Leprosy Day is celebrated on the last Sunday of January, and establishing this date aims to raise awareness about a disease that many people believe to be extinct. Despite being completely treatable in a relatively simple way, leprosy has not been eradicated; and not only the disease is overlooked, but also those affected by it. To address this situation, the World Health Organization created the Global Strategy for Leprosy 2016-2020 called “Accelerating towards a leprosy-free world”.

In 2019, the Latin American and Caribbean Center on Health Sciences Information (BIREME) completed 53 years of uninterrupted work on behalf of the democratization of access, publication, and use of scientific information, knowledge, and evidence; a fact that is always celebrated and recognized by all its staff, especially during the end-of-year celebrations. On December 10th, all employees gathered to celebrate BIREME’s achievements and key results of 2019.

BIREME’s technical cooperation, as a PAHO/WHO specialized Center, with Latin American and Caribbean countries occurs through different pathways, including the official missions of BIREME/PAHO/WHO staff, whose specific objectives are to support the implementation of its technical cooperation program and its institutional alignment with the policies and procedures of the Organization, ensuring the transparency and development of its operations.

At the 1^st International Symposium on Integrative Pediatrics, held in São Paulo, SP, Brazil, on November 22 and 23, the representative of the Pan American Health Organization/World Health Organization in Brazil, Dr. Socorro Gross Galiano, and the president of the Brazilian Academic Consortium for Integrative Health, Dr. Ricardo Ghelman, signed a Technical Cooperation Agreement.

Guatemala is the third country of Latin America and the Caribbean and the first of Central America to adopt, since November 2019, the e-BlueInfo mobile application (APP), developed and maintained by BIREME/PAHO/WHO, which aims to reduce inequality in the access and use of scientific information and evidence oriented towards health care services.

The Virtual Health Library (VHL) Nursing Brazil convened its Advisory Committee on November 12, 2019, in the city of Manaus/AM, Brazil, for the 19^th Regular Meeting on the occasion of the 71^st Brazilian Nursing Conference, with three main objectives: pass the reports of the executive secretariat, evaluate and monitor the subprojects of the VHL-Nursing Brazil, and promote the launch of new information sources.

Ceará state received two Virtual Health Library Stations (VHLS): one in the city Itapipoca, and the other in Canindé. Consequently, Brazil now counts on 105 VHLS, with 12 of them in Ceará. The VHL Station is a project of the Ministry of Health, carried out through the General Coordination of Documentation and Information (GCDI) in cooperation with BIREME/PAHO/WHO. Its principal objective is to contribute to equitable access, the strengthening and amplification of the use of scientific and technical information sources in the Unified Health System (SUS).

The Fifth Session of the Scientific Committee occurred on November 28th and 29th, attended by specialists from Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, and Mexico, who proposed effective recommendations to improve the visibility and quality of BIREME’s products and services for Latin American and the Caribbean. The member from Jamaica justified her absence, while sending her contributions.

The General Coordination of Documentation and Information of the Ministry of Health (CGDI/MS) and the Pan-American Health Organization/World Health Organization of Brazil (PAHO/WHO Brazil) continue to act jointly in a technical cooperation initiative in the context of the Sixth Amendment of the 95th Technical Cooperation Agreement (TA6/TC95), to be developed by BIREME/PAHO/WHO over the next 18 months.