The Internet can be a wonderful tool for those who are searching for information, but when it comes to medical and health information it is especially important to be sure that the advice that you are getting can be trusted. That is where the Health On the Net (HON) Foundation comes in.

The HON Foundation is a not for profit organization that has been in operation since 1995. Its aim is to promote useful, reliable medical information on the internet, and it was created by a group of sixty experts, including surgeons and World Health Organization (WHO) senior representatives.

They continue to operate as a respected, not for profit foundation based in Geneva, with the co-operation of the University Hospitals of Geneva, and the Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics.

They achieve their aims through HONcode accreditation. This is granted to sites who meet a strict set of principles, as laid out on the website. The principles cover such things as transparency of financial ties, attribution to original authors, and a requirement that advertisements be clearly distinguished from other pieces. Also, and perhaps more importantly, all claims of performance and results must be backed up.

A site that wishes to be accredited must first apply, and once assessed as meeting the criteria and supporting the principles of the HON Foundation, may display the HONcode seal. It will also be included in the HON network of sites that you can search for particular terms directly from the website-so excluding any sites that are not accredited.

Sites that carry the seal are subject to future inspections and may be instructed that they have to make changes if they wish to retain their accreditation. Failure to comply with requested changes will cost a site its accreditation.

The HON home site includes a downloadable tool bar that you can install, that will tell you when a medical site that you are visiting carries HONcode accreditation, making it easier for you to see. Thus, when you are searching through a search engine rather than their homepage, you will still know when a site can be trusted.

There is a news section allowing you to keep up to date with relevant health news, and images collection that allows you to search various categories of images. HONSelect allows you to search more specific health terms to explore, accessing articles, news and websites.

What this means for you is that there is a collection of sites that have passed strict standards and thus are more likely to be trustworthy. They won’t simply be trying to push a series of gimmicky or unproven drugs, but sites that have scientific backing, and contain genuine and useful information that you can rely upon.

It has long been acknowledged that just because a claim has been made on a web site, it doesn’t make it true. With an HONCode accredited site however, you can be sure that any and all claims that are made have the backing of medical science, and that the opinion of the site hasn’t simply been bought by a company with an agenda.



By: Gary Bryant

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