The quality of health

information on the Web: a case

for regulation?

Célia Boyer

Executive Director

Outline

Online Health Information

Presentation of HON

Health Website Certification

The HONcode Database

Search Engine Technologies of HON

Perspectives & Conclusion

ONLINE HEALTH

INFORMATION

Importance of the Online Health

and Medical Information

1.7 billion Internet users in 2009 – growing rate by

4 in 9 years

Half of the European population is connected –

grew 3 times since 2000

Europe Health Internet usage increased by 25%

in 2 years

Sources.:http://www.internetworldstats.com/

eHealth trends across Europe 2005-2007, Andreessen & all

Control the quality of health

websites?

“61% of adults gather health

information online”

“Health searches impacted

treatment decision on six in

ten e-patients”

“Three-quarters of health

seekers do not check the

source and date of the

health information they find

online”

Sources: The Social Life of Health Information, June 2009

E-patients With a Disability or Chronic Disease, Oct. 2007,

Pew internet & American Life project, pewinternet.org

The New Yorker, 1993

PRESENTATION OF HON

The Health On the Net Foundation

Created in 1996, HON is a not-for profit

foundation

Mission: HON guides Internet users by

highlighting reliable, comprehensible, relevant and

trustworthy sources of online health and medical

information

the overwhelming quantity of information and

the uneven quality of health information available online

Funded by the Geneva state, European

Commission, France

International recognition

In 2002, HON Foundation was

recognized as a non-governmental

organization and granted special

consultative status with the United

Nations Economic and Social Council

In May 2004, HON won the

«eEurope Award for eHealth»

Since 2007, in France, HON is the

official certifying organisation for

French health websites

HEALTH WEBSITE

CERTIFICATION

The HONcode

SponsorshipClearly distinguish advertising from editorial

content

Authoritativeness

Complementarity

Privacy

Attribution

Justifiability

Indicate the qualifications of the authors

Information should support, not replace, doctor-

patient relationship; Mission and Audience of site

Respect the privacy and confidentiality of personal

data submitted to the site by the visitor

Cite the source(s) of published information and

dating of medical and health pages

Site must back up claims relating to benefits and

performance of a specific treatment. Completeness.

Accessible presentation, identities of editor and

Webmaster, accurate and accessible email contactTransparency

Financial disclosure Identifying funding sources

http://www.HealthOnNet.org/HONcode/

The HONcode Certification

THE PROCESS

The HONcode certification is requested by the

Web publisher with a self-evaluation step

The HONcode Review Committee conducts a

thorough inspection and provide recommendations

Transparency of the certification: excerpts of proof

Deliver the HONcode seal

The HONcode Certification

IDENTIFICATION

When certified, the site displays a unique dynamic

HONcode seal valid for one year

The HONcode Certification

Duration of validity

Annual systematic audit

Automatic continuing monitoring

Re-evaluation after a complaint submission

THE HONCODE DATABASE

The HONcode database

Compliance with the

HONcode principles

Indexed with MeSH

terms and HON labels

7’200 sites in 102

countries with 4’400 sites

in 24 European countries

34 languages

+ 10 millions webpages

certified

SEARCH ENGINE

TECHNOLOGIES OF HON

HONcode search engine

HONcode sites by country

Indentification of HONcode

certified sites

Lights-up toolbar if web site

is certified

European research

how to treat diabetes

PERSPECTIVES &

CONCLUSION

Perspectives

HON as a participating body in the implementation of the

WHO eHealth resolution action plan

Collaboration with governing bodies to provide quality

control to national health websites

Continued advancement in the providing access to quality

health information online

Conclusion

Active for over 14 years

Educate citizens to efficiently use the medical information

Automatic tools developed in order to support human expertise and

tackle the large number of existing Web pages

HON implement the 2001 eEurope Quality Criteria for Health Web

sites, based on the HONcode principles

Collaboration with the French Health Authority for the certification of

health Web sites in France

Adherence to the HONcode enhances a website’s overall quality

“Finally, the content quality of Depression-related websites was

significantly and positively correlated … with the presence of the

HON label, and affiliation of the websites.”

Quality of web-based information on depression

Ariane Zermatten & all. Depress Anxiety. 2010 Jan 22

Thank you for your attention

Celia.Boyer@HealthOnNet.org