About VHL

Clause 1. - The Consultive Committee is the executive instance for the Virtual Health Library - Homeopathy Brazil, and is committed to operationalize the efficient, universal and equitative online access to every relevant information in homeopathy, disclosing it to every country in Latin America and the Caribbean.

CHAPTER II - THE ORGANIZATION.

Clause 2. - The Consultive Committee is formed by a representative from BIREME plus a number of representatives of participating homeopathic institutions. Single paragraph: one main holder and two substitutes must be indicated by institution, and it is mandatory for them to belong to the membership board.

Clause 3. - Main holders of the position of representative and substitutes shall be indicated by the homeopathic institutions, who must care to recommend responsible people who show interest and outstanding knowledge in this area, who know how to deal with computer programs and have time to execute their tasks, participate in teleconferences and online meetings.

Clause 4. - Representatives and substitudes may be indicated and replaced at any time by the institutions who named them, by decision of the Consultive Committee. In such situations, the instance who made the decision must present a plausible explanation to the other members of the committee.

Clause 5. - Functions in the Consultive Committee will be distributed according to the will, capacity and availability of people and of the institutions they are from. The Consultive Committee will be managed by a general coordinator sellected by mutual agreement of peers and BIREME.

CHAPTER III - ASSIGNMENTS 

1. Representing the Consultive Committee in the meetings with BIREME;

2. Representing the Consultive Committee in every external meeting, or passing the task to one or more representatives, or substitutes, in case of unavailability of the main holders of this position, in accordance to the features of every meeting.

3. Presiding and coordinating the meetings of the Consultive Committee. Determining dates for ordinary and extraordinary meetings in accordance with the other members of the committee, establishing the agenda and informing everyone about it at least three weeks earlier, in addition to choosing an ad hoc secretary for them. Extraordinary meetings must be summoned with a 24 hour precedency.

4. Distributing tasks to the members of the Consultive Committee.

5. Supervising and directing the work of the homeopath members of the committee, engaging them to the requierements of BIREME.

6. Demanding of all the parts the fulfillment of commitments in order to ensure that the working schedule is strictely followed in accordance to what’s been determined.

7. Following and ensuring that this regulation is followed.

8. Requesting the inclusion of new members whenever the workload becomes excessive for the teams or when deadlines are short to meet.

9. Oficially requesting the disconnexion of members of the Committee, whenever it is perceived a situation where one or more are damaging the workflow. That decision must always be shared with the other members of the committee.

10. Presenting reports of the activities of the consultive committee every three months, highlighting targets met and pointing where work flew better, lessons learnt, further actions, drawing a new schedule for the next three, six, nine months. This report must be written in accordance to the coordinator’s management profile and, in case it is considered incomplete by one of the institutions the coordinator must present the required explanations. As this committee is in training period, until the present moment no report has been presented and the coordinator may present the annual report until December 31st, ending thus the 2001 financial year.

Single paragraph: the coordinador is authorised to speak in public on behalf of the Consultive Committee, deliberate when there is no possibility or need to consult the other members and sign documents that do not involve risks or expenses. It is vetoed for the coordinator to assume risks or expenses without previous approval by the other members of the committee.

Clause 7. - Other members of the Consultive Committee are responsible for:

1. Participating in the meetings previously summoned by the coordinator, discussing, suggesting, voting and being available to assume tasks and atributions the group requests of the institution one belongs to.

2. Representing the coordinator upon request.

3. Studying and giving relevant opinions on matters regarding the activities of this VHL upon request of the coordinator.

4. Ensuring that the tasks destined to the institution one belongs to are executed in accordance to the deadlines, supervising and directing the work of the teams according to the strategy determined by the group.

5. Presenting a report of activities every three months, regarding the accomplishment of activities under the responsibility of the institution one belongs to, detailing strategies, targets, schedules and work flows and pending activities to be executed in the forecoming months. As this committee is still under training activities, no report has been presented until this moment and the annual report may be presented until December 31st, thus ending this financial year (2001).

Single paragraph: other members of the consultive committee may speak regarding the work of Homeopathy VHL Brazil in events, explaining what is being developed but never presenting an official opinion or stating in the name of the whole committee. It is vetoed to make decisions, sign documents or assume expenses in the name of the consultive committee.

CHAPTER IV - INCLUSION AND DISCONNEXION

Clause 8. - The inclusion of institutions to take part of the works on project BVS-Ho.Br. was done by affiliation through an invitation from Dr. Álvaro Mesquita Jr.  to whom BIREME assigned the BVS-Ho.Br. project. Several institutions have been invited and up to the present moment the following ones have offered to collaborate: Associação Paulista de Homeopatia (APH), Associação Médica Homeopática Brasileira (AMHB), Associação Médica Homeopática de Minas Gerais (AMHMG). In August 2013, through an invitation by BVS Homeopatia Brasil, the Ministry of Health (MS) offered to appoint a representative of the General Coordination for Documents and Information (CGDI-MS) as the official member and a representative of Information Disclosure Coordination (CDI-MS) as the substitute. Therefore, the above mentioned institutions have now become part of the Advisory Committee that will be the link between BVS-Ho.Br and the MS.

Clause 9. - Homeopathic institutions shall indicate from their effective partners a main representative and two substitutes, caring to name people with good will and availability to work.

Clause 10. - The inclusion is normally accepted implicitly, as long as the institution and the representative  fulfill the minimum requirements of management and knowledge skills.

Clause 11. - The disconnexion of members of the consultive committee will be done when:

1. The institution who named the representative requests his disconnexion.

2. The consultive committee considers that the performance is not satisfactory.

3. The representative is away in three consecutive ordinary meetings, a justification shall be accepted for only one of the cases. Single paragraph: in any of those situations, the institution in question shall present a justification to the others.

Clause 12. - As this is a working group with no particular benefit to the members individually, there is no maximum time for a member’s participation or for the position of coordinator.

CHAPTER V - GENERAL PROVISIONS 

Clause 13. - The members of the consultive committee are institutional, not personal, and are authorised to request institutional support for the delivery of their tasks. The management style shall depend on the profile of each institution and its members, and working groups can be formed according to the needs of the committee in order to ensure that targets and deadlines are met. The expenses with the working groups are of responsibility of the institutions and people who join the groups have no bond with the Homeopathy VHL Brazil.

Clause 14. - The expenses of BIREME are being paid by the institution itself, and it is expected that the other institutions support the expenses or that the named members do it themselves. In the future, it is expected that Homeopathy VHL Brazil may be self-sustainable with the sale of some products.

Clause 15. - Matters absent in this regulations shall be discussed during the meetings of the consultive committee.