In a meeting attended by the teams of the Ministry of Health (Executive Secretary and Secretary of Primary Health Care), PAHO Brazil, and BIREME, held on July 13, BIREME presented the results obtained in the scope of the Second Term of Adjustment to the Term of Cooperation 93 (TA2/TC93) that are part of the results report for the first half of 2021.
The session was initiated by BIREME’s director Diego González, who welcomed the participants and presented a brief summary of the objective of TC93 and, more specifically, of the four expected results that comprise it. He reiterated the importance of this agreement for the maintenance of BIREME and the development and continuous improvement of its products and services of information and scientific communication in health sciences.
Next, Verônica Abdala – Manager of Production of Sources of Information and Services and Sources of Information (PFI/SCI), shared the progresses achieved in the areas she manages, which include the creation of Windows of Knowledge, the continuous adoption of new methodologies, such as evidence maps, especially in the validation of Traditional, Complementary and Integrative Medicine (TCIM) practices, the advancement of the Virtual Health Library in Primary Health Care (VHL APS), and the Second Formative Opinions (SOF), among others.
Renato Murasaki, Manager of Administration of Information Sources and Methodologies and Information Technologies (AFI/MTI), reported on technological advances such as the update of the DeCS/MeSH health terminology platform, the launch of Evid@Easy, a guided evidence search tool in the VHL, and the 2.0 version of the e-BlueInfo application, with selected information aimed at health professionals, adopted by El Salvador, Guatemala, and Peru, in addition to Brazil. Renato also mentioned the update of the VHL Portal of the Ministry of Health, which this year celebrates 20 years since its creation, and the new interface that is being developed for the BiblioSUS Network Portal coordinated by the Ministry of Health.
The area of Scholarly and Institutional Communication, led by Lilian Calò, presented the results of dissemination of the TCIM VHL and APS VHL on social media, which are part of the expected results of the TC and highlighted the course on Scholarly Communication in Health Sciences in Portuguese, in the context of TA6/TC95, whose users are mainly young health professionals, and which are basic tools for the advancement of scientific research not only in Brazil, but also in Portuguese-speaking countries.
The Manager of Administration and Planning, Silvia de Valentin contextualized the objective of TC93 and the three current TAs that formalize the expected results and the other elements that characterize it. She also shared the methodology for the management of TC93, the monitoring of internal processes and developments between the teams and the periodicity of presentation and publication of all relevant reports, as well as activities for communication and dissemination of results.
In the end, all recognized the important results achieved, and then actions were submitted for the continuity of TC93, given its importance to meet the priorities of the Ministry of Health in the field of information management and scientific knowledge and communication in health, and which effectively impact on the mission of BIREME/PAHO/WHO to promote equitable access to information in the countries of the Latin American and Caribbean Region.
