BIREME
Information for Action in Health
For 57 years strengthening the capacity of national health systems to provide access to reliable information, improving policy and health decisions.
Development and Operation of Information Products and Services for Action in Health
Virtual Health Library
Integrates more than 60 information sources and facilitates access to scientific and technical information from LA&C and the world.
LILACS Plus
Promotes the visibility of LA&C’s scientific and technical publications.
Evidence Maps
Facilitates informed health decision-making by providing a clear view and access to the best scientific evidence.
Windows of Knowledge
Displays and highlights documents and information resources for priority health topics.
Public Policies
Research and Innovation
Strengthening the Capacity of National Health Systems
Healthcare Workers
Lay People and Communities
Formative Second Opinion
Quick answer for frequent doubts of health professionals with short, and contextualized texts, and informed by evidence.
GRADE Guides and Recommendations
Health guidelines, protocols and recommendations easily accessible to frontline health workers and decision-makers.
e-BlueInfo
App with reliable and up-to-date information to reach those who need it most from rural areas to urban centers.
Decision Aids
Empowering communities with the knowledge they need to make informed health decisions.
Development and Operation of Information Products and Services for Action in Health
Strengthening the Capacity of National Health Systems
Virtual Health Library
The VHL integrates more than 60 information sources and facilitates access to scientific and technical health information from LA&C and the world.
LILACS PLUS
Promotes the visibility of LA&C’s scientific and technical publications.
Evidence Maps
Facilitates informed health decision-making by providing a clear view and access to the best scientific evidence.
Windows of Knowledge
Showcase and highlight documents and information resources for priority health topics.
Formative Second Opinion
Quick answer for frequent doubts of health professionals with short, and contextualized texts, and informed by evidence.
e-BlueInfo
Reliable and up-to-date information reaching those who need it most from rural areas to urban centers.
GRADE Guides and Recommendations
Decision Aids
Commitment to Cooperation and Innovation
VHL - Virtual Health Library
The VHL is a collaborative library that offers comprehensive access to scientific
and technical information in health. The VHL collects, indexes, and stores
citations of documents published by various organizations. Its collection
comprises more than 38 million documents from 60 health information sources,
including LILACS, MEDLINE, PAHO-IRIS, WHO-IRIS, and national databases from LA&C. Explore the VHL.
LILACS - LA&C Health Sciences Literature
LILACS is the most important and comprehensive index of scientific and technical health literature from LA&C, with over 1 million articles from more than 900 journals, theses and dissertations, books, government documents, and publications from international organizations in the Region. Search in LILACS.
DeCS/MeSH - Descriptors on Health Sciences
Structured and multilingual thesaurus – Portuguese, Spanish, English, and French – representing health sciences terminology and providing a unified language for indexing and retrieving documents in the VHL. DeCS includes terms from the MeSH of the U.S. NLM and exclusive categories in the fields of Health Sciences, Homeopathy, Traditional, Complementary and Integrative Medicines, Public Health, and Health Surveillance. Also, check out DeCS Finder – a service that facilitates the search for DeCS/MeSH descriptors.
Windows of Knowledge
The Windows of Knowledge aims to showcase and highlight selected documents and informational resources from the VHL collection, focusing on a relevant health topic. Explore now the Portal that brings together more than 50 Windows of Knowledge.
GRADE Guidelines and Recommendations
Integrated platform for clinical and public health decision-making resources produced by WHO, PAHO, and other national and international institutions following the GRADE approach. There are three resources: BIGG – International GRADE Guidelines Database; BIGG-REC – Repository with over 3,000 individual recommendations for the SDG3 targets from about 300 GRADE guidelines from PAHO and WHO; BIGG-Map – Interactive map providing an overview and graphical representation of evidence for the management of priority diseases. Access the Platform.
Evid@Easy - Guided Evidence Search
It is a guided search tool for evidence in the VHL on topics reflecting the health priorities of SDG 3. EVID@Easy guides users through questions (or pathways) for different stages of the decision-making process. Each pathway culminates in a search result in the VHL. Connect to EVID@Easy.
Cooperação técnica com os países da ALeC
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Technical Cooperation with LA&C Countries
BIREME, a PAHO/WHO center associated with the Department of Evidence and Intelligence for Action in Health (EIH), is a digital library specializing in the scientific and technical output of Latin America and the Caribbean in the health sciences. BIREME carries a health promotion mission by enabling access to and use of scientific and technical information for action in health.
It focuses on technical cooperation with countries to establish Virtual Health Libraries and other digital information products, services, and systems aimed at bibliographic control, indexing, archiving, and developing digital platforms for searching and retrieving scientific and technical health information.
Argentina
Network | RENICS |
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Database | BINACIS, ArgMSAL, PsiArg |
VHL Initiative | VHL National, Nursery, Entre Ríos |
LILACS | 129 Indexed Journals |
National Coordinator | Acad Nac de Medicina de Buenos Aires |
BIREME´s Governance |
Advisory Committee (2016-2018 and 2010-2012) Scientific Committee (2020-2024) |
Bolivia
Network | REBICS |
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Database | LIBOCS, LIBOE, LIBOPI, LIBOSP, LIBODE, LIBOPE, LIBOSA |
VHL Initiative | VHL National |
LILACS | 13 Indexed Journals |
National Coordinator | Universidad Mayor de San Andrés, UMSA |
BIREME´s Governance | Advisory Committee (2012-2014) |
Chile
LILACS | 65 Indexed Journals |
---|---|
Others | DeCS Translation in Spanish |
National Coordinator | Facultad de Medicina. Universidad de Chile |
BIREME´s Governance | Advisory Committee (2022-2024 and 2010-2012) |
Colombia
Network | UNIRECS |
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Database | COLNAL |
VHL Initiative | VHL National, Nursery |
LILACS | 128 Indexed Journals |
Others | Knowledge Window, eBlueInfo |
National Coordinator | FUCS Fund Univ Ciencias de la Salud |
BIREME´s Governance |
Advisory Committee (2021-2023) Scientific Committee (2017-2019) |
Cuba
Database | CUMED |
---|---|
VHL Initiative | VHL National |
LILACS | 46 Indexed Journals |
Others | Centro Colaborador OPS/OMS Gestión de la Información |
National Coordinator | INFOMED |
BIREME´s Governance |
Advisory Committee (2024-2026 and 2013-2015) Scientific Committee (2017-2019) |
Costa Rica
Database | BINAS |
---|---|
VHL Initiative | VHL National |
LILACS | 14 Indexed Journals |
National Coordinator | BINASS - Caja Costarricense Seg Social |
BIREME´s Governance |
"Advisory Committee (2021-2023) Scientific Committee (2017-2019)" |
El Salvador
Network | RENIS |
---|---|
Database | BISSAL |
VHL Initiative | VHL National |
LILACS | 1 Indexed Journal |
Others | eBlueInfo |
National Coordinator | Inst Nac Salud / Min Salud |
BIREME´s Governance | Advisory Committee (2018-2020) |
Ecuador
Database | BDNEcuador |
---|---|
VHL Initiative | VHL National |
LILACS | 11 Indexed Journals |
National Coordinator | Min Salud Pública - INS |
BIREME´s Governance | Advisory Committee (2013-2015) |
Honduras
Network | REDIDOSAH |
---|---|
Database | BIMENA |
VHL Initiative | VHL National |
LILACS | 5 Indexed Journals |
Others | eBlueInfo |
National Coordinator | Biblioteca Medica Nacional - Univ Nac Auton Honduras |
BIREME´s Governance | Scientific Committee (2013-2014) |
Mexico
Database | BVSF |
---|---|
VHL Initiative | VHL Nursery, US-MX Border |
LILACS | 51 Indexed Journals |
National Coordinator | CENIDSP - Centro de Información para Decisiones en Salud Pública - INSP |
BIREME´s Governance |
Advisory Committee (2019-2021 and 2010-2011) Scientific Committee (2017-2022) |
Nicaragua
Database | BDSNIC, BSaludNi |
---|---|
VHL Initiative | VHL National |
LILACS | 0 Indexed Journals |
National Coordinator | MinSA - Biblioteca Nacional de Salud |
Panama
Database | SIBIUP |
---|---|
VHL Initiative | VHL National |
LILACS | 4 Indexed Journals |
National Coordinator | Biblioteca Nacional de Salud, Universidad de Panamá |
BIREME´s Governance | Advisory Committee (2015-2017) |
Paraguay
Network | REDISAL |
---|---|
Database | BDNPAR |
LILACS | 12 Indexed Journals |
Others | Knowledge Window |
National Coordinator | Instituto Nacional de Salud / Ministerio de Salud Pública y Bienestar Social |
Peru
Network | REPEBIS |
---|---|
Database | LIPECS, MINSA PERÚ, INS Perú, SaludAndina |
VHL Initiative | VHL National, MinSA, INS |
LILACS | 41 Indexed Journals |
Others | eBlueInfo, Knowledge Window |
National Coordinator | Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia (UPCH) |
BIREME´s Governance | Advisory Committee (2016-2018) Scientific Committee (2020-2023) |
República Dominicana
LILACS | 1 Indexed Journal |
---|---|
National Coordinator | Inst Tecnol Santo Domingo (INTEC) |
BIREME´s Governance | Advisory Committee (2010-2012) |
Caribbean Countries
Network | MEDCARIB |
---|---|
Database | MEDICARIB |
VHL Initiative | CARPHA Evidence Portal |
LILACS | 1 Indexed Journal (Jamaica) |
National Coordinator | Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA) |
BIREME´s Governance |
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Uruguay
Database | MMyP, UY-BNMed, NUY-Odon, BIBSMU, BNUY-Enf |
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VHL Initiative | VHL National, Nursery, Dentistry, Sindicato Médico, CLAP |
LILACS | 12 Indexed Journals |
National Coordinator | BINAME-CENDIM, Fac Med, Univ de la Republica |
BIREME´s Governance | Advisory Committee (2019-2021) |
Venezuela
Network | SINADIB |
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Database | LIVECS |
LILACS | 57 Indexed Journals |
National Coordinator | Universidad de las Ciencias para la Salud |
Brazil
Network | BiblioSUS |
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Database | ColecionaSUS, Hansen, BBO, HomeoIndex, HISA, IndexPsi, VetIndex, BVSAM, ECOS, PrevCan, BDS, EDUCA, CidSaúde, CONASS, CNS-BR, REBRATS |
VHL Initiative | VHL National, Nursery, Dentistry, Public Health, Health Economy, Hansen, Homeopathy, FIOCRUZ, MinSA, Cancer Prevention and Control, SES-SP, SMS-SP, Health of Indigenous People |
LILACS | 312 Indexed Journals |
Others | Formative Second Opinion, RIPSA, Knowledge Window, eBlueInfo |
National Coordinator | Ministry of Health |
BIREME´s Governance |
Advisory Committee Permanent member (since 2010) Scientific Committee Permanent member (since 2013) |