Health On the Net Foundation
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| non-profit non-governmental organization | |
| Industry | Healthcare |
| Founded | September 1995 |
| Headquarters | Geneva, Switzerland |
| Products | Certification, health search engine and education |
| Website | http://www.healthonnet.org |
Health On the Net Foundation (HON) is a not-for-profit organization founded in 1995 under the auspices of the Geneva Department of Employment, Social Affairs and Health and based in Geneva, Switzerland. This came about following the gathering of 60 of the world's foremost experts on telemedicine to discuss the growing concerns over the unequal quality of online health information. The unanimous conclusion of this gathering was to create a permanent body that would, in the words of the program, "promote the effective and reliable use of the new technologies for telemedicine in healthcare around the world". The HON Foundation became one of the first organizations to guide both lay users and medical professionals to reliable sources of health information in cyberspace.
The mission of the foundation is to guide the growing community of healthcare consumers and providers on the Internet to sound, reliable medical information and expertise. In this way, HON seeks to contribute to improved health care through patient empowerment and better informed health professionals.
Health On the Net holds consultative status with the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations (ECOSOC) and a special relationship with the World Health Organization (WHO). The French National Health Authority appointed Health On the Net in 2007 as its official body to certify health websites based in France.
As a “Liaison A” to the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) Health Informatics Technical Committee (ISO/TC 215), Health On the Net contributes to the elaboration of standards developed by the committee.
Health On the Net offers users an array of tools and services to meet their health information needs, including: the HON Code of Conduct and its certification process; Khresmoi and HONselect search engines, which provide access to trustworthy websites and support groups, medical images and terminology, journal articles and news; Provisu.ch, a database of reliable health information on all eye diseases and accessible by those with poor or no vision through its variability of letter size and audio version; Santeromande.ch, a database directed towards the French-speaking public of Switzerland and neighboring France and providing reliable health information and a directory of registered health professionals, medical centers, hospitals, medical associations and federal organizations.
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