With the purpose to reactivate the PAHO/WHO Collaborating Center (CC) Network in Brazil and to affirm their contribution to the Organization’s technical cooperation, which supports the country in its implementation of the 2030 Agenda and in reaching the Sustainable Development Goals (SDO), government and the Pan American Health Organization employees met at BIREME at the end of July.
Infomed, a project of the Centro Nacional de Información de Ciencias Médicas de Cuba (Cuba’s National Center for Medical Sciences Information) was re-designated as a PAHO/WHO Collaborating Center (CC) in April 2018. The institution, created in 1992, represents a network of people and institutions that, as a CC and in close cooperation with BIREME, work and collaborate to facilitate access to information and knowledge through methodologies and technologies of the Virtual Health Library (VHL), the LILACS index, and besides, perform other activities in coordination with the area of Knowledge Management and Publications of PAHO/WHO Central Office.
Promoting the access and use of scientific evidence for formulating and implementing health policies was the axis of BIREME’s activities during two important events that took place in July in Brazil, bringing together over 8 thousand professionals, including managers, researchers, public health professionals and students.
The Pan American health Organization promoted a dialogue with national institutions related to the access and dissemination of specialized health information. The focus of the meetings was centered on the strengthening of the VHL Network in the country and on the alliance with the Peruvian Association of Medical Schools, a pilot project that is being developed by BIREME for Primary Health Care.
For over 50 years, the US NLM and BIREME/PAHO/WHO have maintained an institutional relationship of cooperation in favor of access and dissemination of scientific health information in Latin America and the Caribbean. On July 11, the Center’s management team visited the NLM/NIH headquarters in Bethesda, U.S.A. It was a unique opportunity to strengthen cooperation between the institutions and to identify opportunities for new lines of cooperation.
Representatives from six CARPHA Member States gathered in Port of Spain, Trinidad & Tobago to attend a training activity on BIREME’s FI-Admin tool to input data into MedCarib database. The cooperation between BIREME and CARPHA aims at enabling participants to strengthen the aforementioned database in the context of CARPHA EvIDeNCe Portal and provide visibility to the scientific output of the English Caribbean countries.
Within the framework of the technical cooperation between PAHO/WHO and the Ministry of Health and Social Protection (MPSP) of Colombia for the development of the “National Study on Environmental Health Equity (ENESA): Colombia 2018”, a Scientific Communication Workshop was carried out, directed to the technical teams on environmental health and their intersectoral counterparts, on July 26, 27 and 30, in Bogotá, Colombia. The course, organized by Dr. Oscar Mújica (Health Analysis/Department of Evidence and Intelligence for Action in Health/PAHO), was led by Dr. Lilian Calò (BIREME/PAHO) and Dr. Damián Vázquez (Knowledge Management and Publications and Editor-in-Chief of the Pan American Journal of Public Health/PAHO).
The scientific program for CRICS10, defined with the support of its Scientific Committee, with the theme of “Advancing towards the 2030 Agenda: Contributions of Evidence and Knowledge” is outlined through the confirmation of speakers from Brazil and abroad as well as through the definition of round tables in accordance with the programs’ thematic axes. Find out more about one of the largest forums on health information in Latin America and the Caribbean.
Young professionals and medical students from six countries (Paraguay, Ecuador, Colombia, Honduras, Peru and Mexico) received training at BIREME/PAHO/WHO on topics of scientific communication and access to scientific and technical information on health sciences. Back in their home countries, these professionals replicated their courses for students of the Facultad de Medicina Humana (Faculty of Human Medicine) of the Universidad de San Martín de Porres, in Lima, Peru.
World Days are launched by PAHO/WHO with the objective of calling attention to prevent and manage a variety of diseases. Every year, the World Hepatitis Day is celebrated on July 28. In 2018, the theme of the World Day is: “Test. Treat. Hepatitis”. Since 2015, the Region of the Americas has a Plan of Action for the prevention and control of viral hepatitis, for which BIREME brings scientific and technical information thanks to resources available to researchers, health professionals and the general population.