[3] BIREME coordinates the development of the Virtual Health Library model which includes access to around 30 million references to scientific and technical literature in the four official languages of Latin America and the Caribbean.

Since 2009, the agreement coexists with the process of implementation of the new legal statute approved by the 49th Directing Council of PAHO.

[5][6] BIREME has met the growing demand for up-to-date scientific literature from the Brazilian health systems and the communities of healthcare researchers, professionals and students.

Networking, based on decentralization, the development of local capacities, the sharing of information resources, developing cooperative products and services, and designing common methodologies, has been the foundation of BIREME's technical cooperation work.

The main objectives which support the existence of BIREME are the following: BIREME, as a specialized center of PAHO/WHO, coordinates and conducts technical cooperation activities on the management of scientific information and knowledge with the aim of strengthening and expanding the flow of scientific health information in Brazil and in other Latin American and Caribbean countries as a key condition for the development of health, including its planning, management, promotion, research, education, and care.