Under the call to action “Get Up-to-Date #EachVaccineCounts,” the 2023 Vaccination Week in the Americas promoted revitalization of national immunization programs and regional goals for disease control and elimination, fostering confidence in vaccines at all ages, and reinforcements to maintain polio elimination in the Region.
On March 3, 2023, the Latin American and Caribbean Center on Health Sciences Information (BIREME/PAHO/WHO) completes 56 years of uninterrupted activity and highlights its main results in the last 12 months. By proposing a debate that will lead to the development of a 2023-2025 Cooperation Strategy, BIREME strengthens and repositions itself as a Center of Evidence for Action in Health.
World Kidney Day is a global awareness campaign aimed at raising awareness of the importance of our kidneys. On March 9, 2023, the World Kidney Day call to action is “Kidney Health for All: Prepare for the Unexpected, Support the Vulnerable”.
The Course on Access and Use of Scientific Information in Health was published in 2017 in its first version, having certified more than 20 thousand participants by 2022. BIREME has just revised and launched a new version in Portuguese, Spanish, English, and French, directed to professionals, researchers, managers, and students who search for information and scientific evidence in the main sources of information in the Virtual Health Library and aims to develop technical skills to carry out efficiently a search for scientific and technical information.
Dr Jarbas Barbosa da Silva Jr was sworn in as PAHO/WHO Director on January 31 at the Organization of American States headquarters in Washington, D.C., USA. In the presence of authorities from Brazil and the region, Dr Barbosa takes office with a commitment to work to address the historic inequalities among and within countries, and to ensure recovery from the covid-19 pandemic. To this end, his mandate will be based on five strategic pillars.
The foundations of the Open Science Recommendation agreed upon at the 41st United Nations General Conference in November 2021 include (1) making scientific knowledge open, accessible, and reusable for all; (2) increasing scientific collaboration and information sharing for the benefit of science and society; and (3) opening the process of scientific knowledge creation, evaluation, and communication to society beyond the scientific community. These themes constitute the central framework of a new scholarly communication course recently launched by BIREME.
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.
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 13th 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.