March is celebration month for BIREME: 52 years of the Center on the 3rd, and on the 27th, 21 years of the Virtual Health Library (VHL), the main technical cooperation strategy. These are important dates and celebrations, as they strengthen the institutionality of the Center, which acts regionally with all Latin America and the Caribbean countries.
The first meeting between BIREME Director, Dr. Diego González, and the Deputy Executive Secretary of the Brazilian Ministry of Health, Dr. Erno Harzheim, took place in Brasilia on March 20, with the purpose of discussing the country’s technical cooperation with the PAHO/WHO Specialized Regional Center. Alongside Dr. González, Dr. Socorro Gross, PAHO/WHO Representative in Brazil, and Janine Coutinho, PAHO/WHO Brazil Knowledge Management consultant were also present.
BIREME organizes and delivers a workshop on access and use of scientific evidence for supporting decisions and interventions related to collective health problems in the Instituto Tecnológico de Santo Domingo, an initiative of the Ministry of Public Health of the Dominican Republic, with the support of the PAHO/WHO Representation in the country.
BIREME and PAHO/WHO Venezuela have increased efforts for the reactivation of the Virtual Health Library (VHL) and the visibility for scientific output on health information produced in the country through the strengthening of the network of Cooperating Centers and the participation of the Asociación de Editores de Revistas Biomédicas.
Once again, students from Paraguay, Bolivia, Colombia, Peru and Brazil visited BIREME to participate at courses on Scholarly Communication and Access to Information, within the framework of the partnership established by the PAHO/WHO Specialized Center with the Latin American Federation of Scientific Societies of Medical Students (FELSOCEM).
Two important dates for public health in the Americas and the world are celebrated in March. World Water Day 2019, celebrated on the 22nd, brings forward the motto “Leaving No One Behind”, an adaptation to the central theme of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The World Tuberculosis Day, celebrated on March 24, this year has as its theme “It’s Time to Act. End Tuberculosis.
The first meeting between the Director of BIREME, Dr. Diego González and the new PAHO/WHO Representative in Brazil, Dr. Socorro Gross, took place on January 7, in Brasilia. The meeting was an opportunity to inform the Representative about the results achieved by the Center with the support of PAHO Brazil and its cooperation terms with the Ministry of Health, as well as to outline ways of strengthening partnerships with the country’s Municipal, State and Federal Governments.
Epistemonikos – a collaborative and multilingual database which assembles primary studies and systematic reviews – relevant evidence for decision-making in health – has been integrated to the Regional Portal of the Virtual Health Library (VHL), the database of the Latin American and Caribbean Center for Health Sciences Information (BIREME) and is available to users.
Actions and projects led by the National Coordination on Integrative and Complementary Health Practices, in collaboration with the Pan American Health Organization through BIREME/PAHO/WHO, and the Brazilian Ministry of Health, contribute to elevate the comprehension of the population and of health professionals on Integrative and Complementary Health Practices (ICHP) within the context of the SUS, thus strengthening self-care practices, health promotion and disease prevention.
A technical cooperation project has recently been signed by CONASS and BIREME, with the main objective of broadening visibility, access and use of technical, scientific and promotional publications from the Conselho Nacional de Secretários da Saúde – National Council of Health Secretaries – CONASS. The project is aligned with the Council’s mission, which consists in articulating, representing and supporting State Secretariats of Health and promoting the dissemination of information and the production and diffusion of knowledge and innovation within the framework of the SUS.