The ICF illustration library is an illustrated website version of the WHO International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF). It provides a simple and understandable way of navigating the structure and construction of ICF. The web site includes Japanese English and Spanish versions of the library. Access to each version is free, and it enables users to view the classification via a hierarchical structure with accompanying codes, text and illustrations. The site's design permits other languages to be added simply to the library, as requested. The pages on the site can be potentially used as a training aid for understanding the structure and composition of the ICF, as well as an online aid for using and interpreting the ICF classification system. Use of the illustrations in addition to the text result in more standardized interpretation of the classification and thus ensures consistency of its interpretation. Although the library has been specifically designed with dealing with elderly patients in mind, its design would also lend itself to being adapted for other patients groups and used in other cultural settings. Spanish version of the ICF illustration library was constructed with the help of Patricia Nilda Soliz Sánchez.(From Bulletin of World Health Organization, vol.82 no.7 Genèbra July 2004.)




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