Strategy to Strengthen the History of Nursing in Latin America through the Virtual Health Library/Nursing

Abstract

Since 1967, the Latin American and Caribbean Center on Health Sciences Information (BIREME) has successfully developed the capacity of countries in the Region to create and operate national scientific and technical information systems, aligned with new information and communication technologies as well as with new organizational paradigms and approaches to information management. In recent years, the growing demand for technical cooperation in Internet‑based products and services has required significant changes. The proposal to create and develop the Virtual Health Library (VHL), under BIREME’s leadership, represents an expansion of the technical cooperation model by promoting the decentralized production and operation of multimedia information sources, network‑connected, with direct and universal access, without geographic or time limitations. Its purpose is to respond in an organized and efficient manner to the emerging needs of countries to produce and operate integrated health information sources on the Internet.