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Quality & Trustworthiness of the Medical & Health
Web
HON has been created for improving the quality of information intended
to both patients and medical professionals for facilitating quick
access to the most relevant and up-to-date medical discoveries.
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HONcode is the oldest and the most used ethical and trustworthy code for medical and health related information available on Internet.The HONcode is designed for two target audiences: the general public and the web publisher, actively involving the site owner in the process
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The HON Foundation is a Non-Governmental Organization,
internationally known for its pioneering work in the field of health
information ethics, notably for the establishment of its code of ethical
conduct, the HONcode.
HON Facts
The HONcode
is the most widely accepted reference for online health and medical
publishers. Currently
the HONcode is used by over 6’800
certified websites, covering 118 countries.
HON web site is
visited by 27’000 visitors
world-wide per day.
HONcode
Toolbar: search engine and checker of the certification
status
 
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Automatically
checks a site’s HONcode status when browsing health
web sites. The search engine indexes only HONcode-certified
sites. HONcodeHunt currently includes millions of certified
medical and health Web pages.
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The HONcode: Principle
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Principle 1 |
Authority
Give qualifications of authors
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Principle 2 |
Complementarity
Information to support, not replace
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Principle 3 |
Confidentiality
Respect the privacy of site users
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Principle 4 |
Attribution
Cite the sources and dates of medical information
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Principle 5 |
Justifiability
Ability to back claims
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Principle 6 |
Transparency
Accessibility, provide valid contact details
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Principle 7 |
Financial disclosure
Provide details of funding
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Principle 8 |
Advertising
Clearly distinguish advertising from editorial content
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The HONcode: a Certification System
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Who can request it? Any health or
medical web site, intended for patients, health workers or
the general public, whether or not it has a strictly health
or medical focus.
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The request for certification is
explicit and voluntary (Requests are handled through the ).
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Review
for certification: Each request for certification
is examined by a HONcode review committee including professional
medicals. HON makes a thorough visit of the site and verifies
if all
eight of the HONcode ethical principles () are
respected. If some principles are missing in the web site,
HON and the
site owner work together in order to bring the
site into compliance.
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Active certification: A site which is found to respect
the eight HONcode principles is given a unique dynamic seal to
place on their pages. The seal is directly linked to a HONcode
certificate located on the HON website.
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Regular monitoring: A certified site receives a
check-up visit periodically, beginning one year after the initial
certification, or following a complaint or technical malfunction
detected by our monitoring services.
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Compliance
assurance: Mechanisms have been implemented
in order to ensure compliance and detect violations of the
HONcode. HON is the only organization to enforce its code
through a formal
complaint mechanism.
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