Publications about the VHL

Provides a brief history of BIREME/PAHO/WHO and presents the Virtual Health Library model as the strategy adopted by the institution in the promotion of technical cooperation in the dissemination of health information. (In portuguese)

Presents the VHL as a model of PAHO technical cooperation to promote the production and decentralized operation of a network of information sources containing scientific and technical information in health. (In portuguese)

This document provides a general outlook of the VHL operation in the past ten years, analyzing its performance as Strategy, Model and Operational Guide. To each of these dimensions, appropriate indicators have been settles to point out trends, achievements and challenges faced throughout the period.

This book is compounded by a selection of conferences presented in the IV Pan-American Congress of Information in Health (CRICS IV), organized along with the VI System Meeting. These conferences enable the enlargement of the debate on the construction of the VHL, considering not only matters inherent to its formation but also including the main aspects of the context in which Latin American and Caribbean countries are inserted. Published in 1998 by the Latin American and Caribbean Center on Health Sciences Information – BIREME/PAHO/WHO.

The VHL Guide, collectively built by the VHL Network, aims to share with all producers, inter-mediators and users the experiences, results and best practices that constitute the knowledge gathered in the history of the VHL Network, equitably.

  • Declarations for the VHL

In every edition of the Meeting of Regional Coordination of the VHL, the participants present a declaration reaffirming their commitments before the VHL and urging the involvement of society in VHL development for the dissemination of scientific and technical information in health.

  • Declaration of São Paulo
    10th Regional Congress on Health Sciences Information – CRICS 10 / 7th Regional Coordination Meeting of the VHL – São Paulo, Brazil – December 04 to 06, 2018;
  • Declaration of Washington D.C.
    9th Regional Congress on Health Sciences Information – CRICS 9 / 6th Regional Coordination Meeting of the VHL – Washington D.C., United States – October 22 to 24, 2012;
  • Declaration of Rio
    8th Regional Congress on Health Sciences Information – CRICS 8 / 5th Regional Coordination Meeting of the VHL – Rio de Janeiro, Brazil – September 19 to 23, 2008;
  • Declaration of Salvador
    7th Regional Congress on Health Sciences Information – CRICS 7 / 4th Regional Coordination Meeting of the VHL – Salvador, Brazil – September 14 to 19, 2005;
  • Declaration of Puebla
    6th Regional Congress on Health Sciences Information – CRICS 6 /  3th Regional Coordination Meeting of the VHL –  Puebla, Mexico – May 05 to 09, 2003;
  • Declaration of Havana Towards Equitable Access to Health Information
    II Regional Coordination Meeting of the Virtual Health Library (VHL) – V Regional Congress on Health Sciences Information (CRICS V) Havana, Cuba, 23 to 27 April 2001;
  • Declaration of San José
    VI Meeting of Latin American and Caribbean System on Health Sciences Information, IV Pan American Congress on Health Sciences Information, San José, Costa Rica, March 23th – 27th 1998.

Former electronic mural containing a concise description of VHL’s information sources, published in the 1990s. (In Spanish)

Session with a wide variety of papers and researches about the Virtual Health Library from several different authors and from various contexts, available in LILACS.