São Paulo, 12 January 2021 (PAHO/WHO)—The 9th Session of BIREME’s Advisory Committee (AC) of BIREME, which took place online on December 17, had the following specific objectives: (1) to hold the annual session and establish effective communication and exchange with the members of the Committee; (2) to inform members on the current status of implementation of the recommendations made at the VIII session of 2019; and (3) to strengthen BIREME’s institutional framework in Brazil and with countries in the Latin America and Caribbean region.
Moreover, recommendations were obtained for the financial sustainability of BIREME considering the challenges of the global pandemic of COVID-19 to: (i) expand institutional relations and increase the possibilities of new projects in the area of information management and knowledge and scientific communication in health; (ii) develop actions and projects to support LA&C countries with the components of information and knowledge management and scientific communication in health, in response to the global pandemic of COVID-19; and (iii) mobilize financial resources through projects and funding agencies.
Diego González, Director of BIREME opened the session, thanking members for their presence and inviting Sebastian Garcia to speak, who, on behalf of the Director of PAHO/WHO, welcomed those present, stressing the importance of the Advisory Committee and the recommendations of its members for the Center’s continued sustainability.
Then, the Director of BIREME presented the Center’s main projects, products and services on Communication and Scientific Information in Health, assisted by managers and their teams, Silvia Almeida de Valentin, Administrative Management and Planning; Veronica Abdala, Production of Information Sources / Cooperative Information Services; and Renato T. Murasaki, Information Source Administration / Methodologies and Information Technologies. It is worth mentioning the Ad Hoc Session of the AC that took place online last July 30 to maintain effective communication with the members of the AC and share partial information on the progress of the recommendations made by the members at the VIII Session, held in 2019.
The participants were unanimous in recognizing the results achieved by the Center and its various developments, considering the challenges of teleworking due to the pandemic.
Diego González and Sebastián Garcia expressed their recognition and acknowledged the members who leave the Committee this year, Barbados and El Salvador, for their participation, mentioning that technical cooperation with these countries will continue within the scope of projects under development.
A session report will be prepared shortly and sent to the AC members, which, once validated, will be sent to the Director of the Organization.
Participants of the 9th Session of the AC
- Erika Rodrigues de Almeida, Ministry of Health of Brazil
- Guilherme Cunha Medeiros da Silva, Ministry of Health of Brazil
- Marco Aurélio Santana da Silva, Ministry of Health of Brazil
- Kenneth George, Ministry of Health and Welfare of Barbados
- Nadia Patricia Rodriguez, Ministry of Health of El Salvador
- Thameshwar Merai, Ministry of Health of Guyana
- Alejandro Ernesto Svarch Pérez, Ministry of Health of Mexico
- Martha Leticia Caballero Abraham, Ministry of Health of Mexico
- José Gustavo Valle Mendoza, Ministry of Health of Mexico
- Zulema Guerra Carpio, Ministry of Health of Mexico
- Graciela Fernández, Ministry of Health of Uruguay
About BIREME’s AC
BIREME’s Advisory Committee has as its main function, according to BIREME’s Statute in the context of its new institutional framework (CD49.R5), to analyze and make recommendations to the Director of PAHO/WHO on the programmatic functions based on the Plan PAHO/WHO Strategic Plan, Biannual Work Plan (BWP) and its sources of financing.
The AC is integrated by PAHO/WHO (represented by Sebastián García Saisó, Director of the Department of Evidence and Intelligence for Action in Health (EIH) and Diego Gonzalez, Director of the Latin American and Caribbean Center for Health Sciences Information – BIREME and its managerial and technical team) and the Government of Brazil as permanent members. In addition, it consists of five Member States as non-permanent members, selected by the Governing Bodies of PAHO/WHO for a period of up to three years, which are currently Barbados (2018-2020), El Salvador (2018-2020), Guyana (2019-2021), Mexico (2019-2021), and Uruguay (2019-2021). From 2021, Barbados and El Salvador will be replaced by Colombia and Costa Rica.
