Representatives from 15 Latin American and Caribbean countries met in São Paulo on 26 and 27 October for a set of health-information governance sessions that placed digital transformation, artificial intelligence and access to scientific evidence on the regional agenda through 2031.
The gathering brought together health-ministry representatives, information-science specialists and coordinators from the Virtual Health Library network. It combined the annual sessions of the Advisory Committee and Scientific Committee with the eighth regional coordination meeting of the network.
A National Coordinating Committee for Brazil was established during the programme. The new body is intended to strengthen technical cooperation with the country, adding a national governance channel alongside the regional work under discussion.
A regional network focused on usable evidence
The Virtual Health Library is a cooperative network for organising and widening access to scientific and technical health information. Its value lies not simply in storing material online, but in making research and other evidence easier for health professionals, institutions and decision-makers to find, assess and use.
That work has become more complex as countries produce more digital material, build new online services and confront rapid changes in how information is discovered. The São Paulo sessions considered how the network can respond to those changes while retaining a shared regional approach and giving countries meaningful roles in its development.
Participants examined progress in technical cooperation, exchanged national experiences and discussed priorities for the 2026–31 period. The stated areas of focus included the strengthening of the Virtual Health Library network, wider access to scientific information, digital transformation and the use of artificial intelligence in health-information work.
Those themes are connected, but they are not interchangeable. Expanding access to research depends on collections being current, visible and organised in ways that users can navigate. Digital tools may assist with discovery and management, but their use also raises questions about quality, human oversight and the needs of institutions with different levels of technical capacity.
From discussion to the next stage of cooperation
The regional coordination meeting considered the future architecture of the network’s portals, national spaces and shared services. It also looked at the challenge of maintaining and expanding scientific and technical collections from across Latin America and the Caribbean. The aim is to improve the visibility and practical use of knowledge produced in the region, rather than leave it fragmented across separate systems.
Artificial intelligence featured as a subject for discussion in information acquisition, organisation, curation and discovery. The meeting did not establish a single regional AI system or announce that a new technology has been put into operation. Instead, the priority is part of a wider conversation about how information work may change and what safeguards and capabilities countries will need.
Brazil’s new coordinating committee is a concrete institutional development from the sessions. Its creation does not by itself settle future projects, funding or policy changes. Its role is to support cooperation with Brazil as the wider programme moves from identifying priorities towards follow-up work.
National contributions also showed how regional cooperation can meet different local needs. Bolivia used the sessions to set out priorities involving research governance, stewardship of scientific data, bioethics, publishing standards, artificial intelligence and the use of evidence in public-health decisions. The country proposed further technical work, rather than reporting a completed programme.
The governance sessions are expected to produce recommendations for the next phase of institutional strengthening and technical cooperation. Their practical effect will depend on the recommendations that follow, the capacity of participating institutions and the choices made by countries. For now, the significance of the São Paulo meeting is the combination of a new Brazilian coordinating body and a shared regional effort to define how health information can be more accessible, useful and resilient over the next five years.
