BIREME Bulletin n° 14

The Regional Database for the Assessment of Health Technologies Reports of the Americas is a technological platform; its methodology to register, organize and disseminate reports was developed by BIREME, together with PAHO/WHO Department of Health Systems and Services. BRISA has initially more than 600 online Health Technology Assessment reports from nine countries in the region. Methodologies for information indexing and retrieval enable recovering the reports by theme, author, or keywords.

As from 2005, the International Nursing Virtual Health Library has promoted equity in access to quality scientific and technical information on nursing and related themes from the region of the Americas, through collaboration of a network of organizations that produce information. Representatives of some countries that work together to build the VHL Nursing met at the Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia, in Lima, Peru, in September 2017, during the XI Reunión Internacional de la Red BVS Enfermería, to discuss the advances of the project.

In the Americas and around the world, there is an increased demand for health services that offer therapeutic alternatives that respond to the cultural and social contexts of individuals, families and communities with an intercultural approach. That is why, as part of an interprogrammatic project, PAHO/WHO is advancing the development of a Virtual Library that aims to promote visibility, access, use and generation of scientific, technical and educational content that contributes to the promotion, development and integration of the Traditional Medicine and Complementary Therapies in the services and health systems of LA&C.