The Working Group on Developing the VHL in Countries will be dedicated to discussing, evaluating and sharing experiences about the progress of the VHL in the countries. Special attention will be given to successful experiences in adopting the VHL paradigm, aimed at equitable access to information and knowledge on health, including management of regional, national and international sources and flows of information.
The WG on Developing the VHL in Countries is the main work group in BVS4 and is scheduled in two sessions:
September 19 – 2:00 to 5:30 p.m.
September 20 – 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
All Latin American and Caribbean countries and Spain will have 10 minutes to present the current status of the country regarding the VHL, including the national thematic areas.
Group Coordination: BIREME
Languages: Spanish and English
About the presentation by countries:
For the presentation, it is important to arrange a previous national meeting to analyze the current status of the VHL as well as to prepare a summary of the report (at most five pages), which must be sent to BIREME to be published in the BVS4 Meeting site and be distributed in print during the meeting. It is also relevant to count on the assistance and approval by the National Advisory Committee of the VHL. Even if there is no such Committee, a group should be organized, composed of representatives of the main healthcare institutions of the country, including services, research and training.
Important issues that should be discussed and included in the report of the country:
a) About the progression of the VHL in the country
Describe the main successes in developing and using the VHL to access scientific and technical information in the country, as well as developing the national capacity in scientific and technical information on health in service delivery, research and training systems in the country. Identify the advances and challenges to enhance sustainability of VHL. Which experiences or practices are considered successful and could be nationally and internationally shared?
b) About political support to developing the VHL
Describe national and institutional support to the VHL in the country, and technical cooperation of PAHO and other international agencies, considering the main aspects and greater challenges that must be faced. Describe the cooperation experiences with other national and international networks. Describe the impact on and the difficulties in adopting policies that aim at open access, adoption of public-domain policies and free software.
Which recommendations are important to strengthen and extend political support to the VHL in the country? What are the advances in developing national public policies on scientific and technical information?
c) About VHL methodology and its application in management of sources and flows of scientific and technical information on health.
Describe the advances related to VHL methodology, its adoption, capacity building and use in the processes related to management and operation of sources and flows of information. Describe the networking and cooperation among institutions that produce, intermediate and use information. Describe the cooperation actions and processes targeted at promoting better quality of information that are registered in the VHL.
Which sources of information in the VHL are nationally produced, intermediated and used? How does the VHL support and make networking easier? Which aspects hinder networking? What qualitative and quantitative indicators show that the VHL model has significantly enhanced visibility and accessibility of the national sources of information?
d) About human resources
Describe the current status of human resources regarding management, operation and use of sources of information in the VHL. What are the advances achieved and the opportunities created to strengthen this capacity? Which are the existing barriers to fully adopt the information and communication on health paradigm?
What are the most significant advances in developing human resources related to scientific, technical and factual information on health? What are the major persisting difficulties? How does the VHL contribute and create opportunities to support such development and overcome difficulties?
e) About information technology infrastructure
Describe how the national information technology infrastructure supports and/or hinders VHL development. Describe how digital inclusion is promoted for communities of users with no access to the Internet.
How would the opportunities provided by developing information technology infrastructure support and expand the access, use and impact of the sources and flows of information in the VHL?
In order to have the national report published in the site of the Meeting and distributed in print to the participants, we require the reports be sent up to August 25. In a joint effort with the national partners, BIREME will prepare, edit and format the documents based on the analyses suggested, so that all countries will have their presentations together.
If you need any further information, please contact Mrs. Verônica Abdala at veronica@bireme.br or abdalave@bireme.ops-oms.org.