Georgetown, Guyana- 23 October 2023- PAHO trained over thirty participants on the Research4Life tool, the VHL and the Med Carib databases. The participants who attended the face-to-face training were health professionals, researchers and Librarians.
The five-day training was held in collaboration with the Ministry of Health, The University of Guyana, and the Pan American Health Organization/World Health Organization. The trainers were, Mr. Leonard Rhine, consultant for Research4Life, Ms. Eliane Dos Santos-Pereira, Knowledge Management and Networks, PAHO Washington DC, Ms. Marcia Barretto, Information Technology Specialist, BIREME, Brazil, Ms. Victoria Cruickshank-Taylor, Communications Officer, CARPHA and Ms. Ayaana Alleyne-Cumberbatch, Librarian, University of the West Indies, Trinidad.
Speaking at the opening of the session, Dr. Luis Codina said, “today we are here to commence a five-day training session for health professionals, researchers, and Librarians. This is a very important training session, since it will help you in your technical work once you learn to use the proper tools given for research”. Dr. Codina, emphasized on the need to conduct research and elaborated that PAHO will continue to provide guidance on how to engage in evidence-based research and management of the course of information, to support and improve research in the digital health era in Guyana.
Ms. Elaine Dos Santos-Pereira, Advisor, Knowledge Management and Networks at PAHO/WHO- Washington DC, stated that Research 4Life is a great tool that will give the advantage to the institutions in Guyana to be a part of a network, that will give them the opportunity to access information that is not easily accessed.
Mrs. Gwyneth George, Chief Librarian at the University of Guyana, stated that the University of Guyana Library has been a long-standing partner in the development of the Virtual Health Library. She indicted that there is so much potential and opportunities in Guyana for people to conduct research. She encourages the participants to take this opportunity to learn the tool that will propel them to their advance level in conducting research. “As you engage in this training workshop, I urge you to reflect on the part your institution can play in moving this project forward and in creating borderless libraries where health information can be seamlessly shared for the benefit of society. Libraries and other Information units have an important role to play in this process”, said Mrs. George.
Meanwhile, Hon, Minister Dr. Frank Anthony in his remarks stated, “If we are going to foster a new environment for research, we have to give people access to journals and we have to implement a virtual library that will allow easy access to evidence-based research”.
The training equipped health professionals with the R4L and VHL/Med Carib tools to investigate health issues using peer review and evidence-based research conducted by other researchers and health professionals.
The Minister highlighted that this workshop is timely and is expected to guide the Ministry of Health’s national research agenda.
PAHO/WHO remains committed to improving health information in Guyana with partners.
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