The collection, production, analyses and dissemination on health information is a basic mandate of the PAHO/WHO, established in Article 55 of the Pan American Sanitary Code, in order to provide equitable access to all users and improve the health of the people in the Region. This strategy is part of all the projects and activities undertaken by the Office on a regional and national level through its Office in Uruguay.
The Virtual Health Library project was introduced by the Latin American and Caribbean Center on health Sciences Information, BIREME/PAHO,
during the VI Meeting of Latin American
and Caribbean System on Health Sciences Information, held in San José, Costa
Rica in March 1988. Since that moment the PAHO/WHO Office in Uruguay has been working on the implementation of this proposal.
This proposal represents the adoption of a new organizational and information management paradigm that will respond to the mandate of our Organization. It promotes decentralized production and operation of multimedia information sources, connected through networks with direct and universal access, exempt of geographical or scheduling restrictions.
The Virtual Health Library is envisioned as the broad basis of scientific and technical knowledge registered, organized, and stored in electronic format in the countries of the Region. It is subject to strict quality control mechanisms for the selection of information sources for the Library.
During the year 2001, the PAHO/WHO Office in Uruguay gathered 10 local institutions to create a National Consultative Committee. This Committee is responsible for the launching of the national VHL.
The Virtual Health Library of the PAHO/WHO Office in Uruguay is part of the initiative that health institutions on the national and regional levels are undertaking to comply with the commitment acquired as signatories of the
Declaration of Costa Rica in 1998 and
Havana in April 2001.
At the end of the year 2000, the National Consultative Committee on VHL, through the PAHO/WHO Office in Uruguay acting as Technical Secretariat, requested the design of a logo to identify the Uruguayan Virtual Health Library. For this purpose the School of Sciences and Communication of the University of the Republic of Uruguay was contacted.
Professors Maria Braída and María del Carmen Martínez Prado included the design of the logo in their course, according to the specifications requested by the Committee.
Finally, after careful consideration, the Committee which included 5 jurors and the teachers of the course, unanimously selected the work submitted by the student Laura Di Yorio. This work achieves a great visual impact combining with great simplicity, originality and purity of lines and color, the idea submitted in the bases.
It is worth mentioning the high level of creativity, design and originality of all the works submitted.
