The Virtual Health Library is envisioned as the broad of scientific and technical knowledge based in health-entered, organized, and stored in electronic format in the countries of the Region, universally accessible on the Internet and compatible with international databases.

The Virtual Health Library is simulated in a virtual space on the Internet and consists of a collection or network of health information sources in the Region.
Users from different levels and locations will be able to interact and navigate in the space of one or more information sources, regardless of their physical location. The information sources are generated, updated, stored, and manipulated on the Internet by producers, integrators, and intermediaries, in a decentralized manner using common methodologies for their integration into the Virtual Health Library.

It will also be possible to enrich, schedule, reformulate, and/or translate the basic information sources into new information products and services, with value added, in order to meet more efficiently the information needs of users from specific communities.

BIREME has established a plan of action to implement the Virtual Health Library based on 5 lines of action: promotion and marketing; realignment of traditional products and services; production of electronic publications; development of tools for integrating and locating information; and development of other Virtual Health Library components. The plan of action will be implemented within a three-year period between April 1998 and March 2001.