New NGO status for HON

Health On the Net was granted on the 23rd July 2002 the NGO status by the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations.

Health on the Net Interim Director Célia Boyer announced today that HON has been granted consultative status to the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations (ECOSOC).
The new NGO status will facilitate HON participation with the World Health Organization and other UN bodies, and reinforce its consultative role with government ministries in several countries where HON has contacts.

HON was established in 1995 under the impetus of M. Guy-Olivier Segond, former Geneva State Councillor. The organization was then directed between 1998 and 2001 by the late Pr JR Scherrer.
Pioneering the field of health information ethics, HON was first to introduce a code of conduct for medical and health web sites (HONcode). The HONcode has since been adopted by over 3000 web sites worldwide. HON presents its research at international academic gatherings and collaborates on several European Union projects. Although best known for the HONcode, Health On the Net has also developed online applications for patients and caregivers, including HONselect search engine, an encyclopedic resource of medical and health information containing over 70,000 references.