The Ibero-American Cochrane Network Welcomes El Salvador and Strengthens Its Growth From Sant Pau

The Cochrane El Salvador Center has opened in San Salvador and has joined the Ibero-American Cochrane Network (RCIb). The opening ceremony was attended by El Salvador’s Minister of Health, Francisco José Alabí; the director of the National Institute of Health (INS), Xóchitl Sandoval, the institution hosting the new group; and Gerard Urrútia, director of the Ibero-American Cochrane Center and the Ibero-American Cochrane Network (RCIb), as well as a physician with the Clinical Epidemiology and Public Health Department at Hospital de Sant Pau and a researcher at the Institut de Recerca Sant Pau. 

El Salvador’s incorporation is part of the strategy to strengthen and expand the Ibero-American Cochrane Network promoted by Gerard Urrútia as director of the RCIb. The network has welcomed new groups and centers, including the Cochrane Centers of the Balearic Islands, Universidad Científica del Sur in Peru, and the center in El Salvador, further consolidating a collaborative network that promotes the production, synthesis, and use of the best available scientific evidence to support health decision-making. Urrútia noted that “the Ibero-American Cochrane Network continues to grow thanks to the commitment of institutions that believe in collaboration and in the value of scientific evidence to improve health.”

The RCIb is coordinated by the Ibero-American Cochrane Center, based at Hospital de Sant Pau and the Institut de Recerca Sant Pau, and brings together 45 centers and groups across 12 Ibero-American countries. This activity contributes to the international presence of the Hospital and the Institut de Recerca in the fields of evidence-based medicine and knowledge transfer.

The opening of the Cochrane El Salvador Center brought the 22nd Meeting of the Ibero-American Cochrane Network to a close. Over three days, the meeting brought together researchers, healthcare professionals, and policymakers to share experiences and discuss the main challenges surrounding scientific evidence, methodological innovation, artificial intelligence, and knowledge transfer.