• Editorial
• Give Your Feedback on Rules Used on Forums, Blogs, etc.
• Recent Updates Regarding the HONcode:
  New Guideline for Before-after Pictures
• Doctors 2.0 & You June 6-7, 2013 - Paris

The Pew Internet & American Life Project study * has found that 59% of US adults say they have looked online for health information in the past year and "35% of US adults have gone online specifically to try to figure out what medical condition they or someone else might have." As the world is facing growing burden of non-communicable diseases, this number will only go up as more and more generations grow up with the Internet. However, without any standardization, there is no clear distinction between sites offering quality health information and sites making various claims for profit or some other reason.

This is where the HONcode certification comes in. The HONcode has been around for close upon 17 years and is the longest standing online health information transparency and ethical control.
We counts now 8300 new websites certified in total. And the internet users care about the certification as 12'000 persons click per day on the HONcode seal. However this number is not enough significative and more awareness about the variability of the quality of medical and health online information should be conducted.

* Ref: http://www.pewinternet.org/Reports/2013/Health-online.aspx

In May 2012, we asked your opinion on the proposed Web 2.0 guidelines for HONcode certified websites. Based on your invaluable feedback, we have done some modifications to the proposed guidelines.

By conducting this follow-up survey, we aim to find out whether the modifications have improved the proposed guidelines regarding usefulness, clarity and practicality.

We would like to ask you to fill in this follow-up questionnaire, which will take about 15 minutes. The questionnaire will be online from March 28 to April 15, 2013.

>>> Access the survey <<<

The Health On the Net Foundation introduces a new guideline designed for websites presenting before-after pictures, which will be effective from March 21st, 2013. All HONcode certified websites displaying before-after pictures should implement this guideline as soon as possible but at the latest, one year after the publication of this document.

>>> Guideline: Before-after pictures/videos concerning medical treatments <<<

Doctors 2.0 & You will present digital examples in 17 real-world medical conditions and explore the relationships between patients, health professionals, public health institutions and industry, insurers. Founded by Denise Silber and organized by Basil Strategies, the event will feature over 60 expert speakers from around the world, plus exhibitor and start-up demos, and the Poster Contest.

Poster contest submissions close on April 10, 2013. FInal Early Bird rates for participants end on April 30, 2013. New sponsor opportunities still available.

>> Doctors 2.0 & You is happy to announce a partnership with HON and to offer you the chance to save 20% on participation fees! Please write to doctors20 at basilstrategies.com indicating "HON"