AVERT's Site Information

About the site

AVERT.org is the most accessed HIV & AIDS web site in the world. The number of visitors has increased massively over recent years, and keeps on rising. The reason? Unlike many website owners who simply put pages up and leave them, we constantly update AVERT.org with current and original HIV/AIDS articles. Our audience comes from every walk of life, including students, teachers, people living with HIV and their families and friends. Many of our readers are from the US or the UK - where we are based - but we also have lots of visitors from elsewhere in the world. This is reflected in our content - wherever you're from, there'll be something for you on AVERT.org . . . and we guarantee that if you look around, you'll learn at least one important thing by the time you leave.

And don't forget to come back - our pages change all the time to keep up with what's current. We look at controversies related to AIDS, we have a vibrant young people's section, and we look at almost every aspect of human sexuality . . . and let's face it - that's something everyone's interested in, isn't it?

The website is run by AVERT, an international HIV and AIDS charity based in the UK which, before the days of the internet, used to produce informational booklets, posters and fliers giving people the information they needed to protect themselves from HIV. It now runs the AVERT.org web site, started in 1995, at a time when cyberspace was still fairly empty. Back then the site was only a handful of web pages, read by only 30 people a month! We were one of the first AIDS charities to go online, and since we did so, the site has grown and changed amazingly.

Where are we now?

During 2007 we supplied more than 30 million pages of information to an estimated 10 million visitors from every corner of the world - from Europe, America, Africa, the Middle East, Asia, Australia and South America. The main reason that the site is here is to inform people, help people to protect themselves, and ultimately, to save people's lives.

The site has become a major educational and informational tool, shaping decisions and providing information for people all around the world - from individuals to governments to journalists to teachers.

That's something you can be a part of, too. Everyone's got something to say, and you'll find lots of parts of the site where your contributions will be welcome - whoever you are, whatever your race, age, sexuality or nationality.

BMA award

In November 2005 AVERT.org was selected by the British Medical Association (BMA) as the winner of the BMA Patient Information Award for Websites. The website was praised by judges for being “very well referenced, information rich and possessing a clean look”.

The BMA Patient Information Award for Websites was founded in 1998 to acknowledge the increasing importance of patient sites on the internet.

The award came almost ten years to the day since the AVERT HIV and AIDS website was launched.

The source of it all

The site's content comes from a number of different sources. These include:

• Original material written by people at AVERT.org.
• Old AVERT printed publications. We're trying to phase these out now, but there are one or two old favourites that people keep asking for. They're available for you to download and print out, along with lots of up-to-date material in our education pages.
• Some content from users of the site who send in their stories to us on lots of different subjects - losing their virginity, being gay & coming out, living with HIV, or losing a friend or family member to AIDS. Our site covers most aspects of human sexuality, so feel free to contribute your views or experiences.
• Pictures from other organizations who have given us permission to use them. The copyright holders are credited wherever such images are used.

Content on the AVERT website is written by a team of website writers, using a wide range of sources. Care has been taken to ensure where needed, content is referenced. For more information see our copyright page.

Over the years people who have written for the website have included: Annabel Kanabus, Ben Hill-Jones, Bonita de Boer, Gemma Spink, Graham Pembrey, James Magee, Jamie Guiver, Jane Pennington, Jenni Fredriksson-Bass, Marta Zaccagnini, Matthew Leake, Rachael King, Rachel Ruscombe-King, Rosalind Johnston, Simon Forrest, Steve Berry, Rob Noble, Rosie Jones, Sarah Allen.

Special thanks to Simon Forrest for his contribution to the education pages.

If you need to give a reference for some information you have obtained from the site, then you should give the full address of the page and the date it was accessed e.g.

www.avert.org/his81_86.htm accessed (01/01/06)

Don't agree?

Is there something on the site that you think is incorrect or that you don't agree with? There are some other very good websites out there dealing with HIV, AIDS and all aspects of sexuality. Feel free to get a second opinion!

If you still think we've made a mistake or omission then please let us know, and we'll check it out right away.

Let's talk technical

Some of the files on the site are in PDF format, which is useful for downloadable things - posters, leaflets, etc. If you cannot access one of these files, it may be that you haven't got a recent copy of acrobat reader which can be downloaded here. Other parts on the site - like some of the interactive bits, like the slideshows - use a program called Flash, and if your computer has difficulty running these bits, you may need to download macromedia shockwave player which is needed to view these pages. You can still access everything on the site without Flash, but Flash does make things look prettier!

Copyright

Most material on the site is the copyright of AVERT.org, although some parts (photos, for example) may be owned by other organizations. Anything which is owned by someone else will have a statement on or near it saying who the owner is. Please don't print out and copy chunks of the site. We are a charity and we work hard to produce this information. If you would like to reproduce any of the information, graphics or photos on the site, there are important legal reasons why you will need to have permission first.

If the copyright owner is not AVERT.org then you will need to contact them to get permission - contact details can be found on our copyright page.

Confidentiality policy

AVERT.org operates a confidentiality policy, therefore any personal details (emails, phone calls, faxes or letters) can not be given to anyone else and are not added to mailing lists. If you send a story in to one of our stories pages, then if we post it, we'll only use your first name, and we can't put up any contact details or email addresses. Please don't ask us to put you in touch with other people who've posted stories - sorry, but we can't.

Medical info

On a site about HIV, AIDS and STDs there's bound to be lots of medical information. On AVERT.org, we always try to provide the best possible information for people all around the world, but this is not a substitute for seeing a doctor.

Got something to say?

If you have something to tell us about the web site, then why not drop us an email at info@avert.org and let us know? AVERT.org is driven by people like you who use the site, and we get hundreds of emails every week. We read all your emails, and we appreciate any suggestions, ideas, and constructive criticism!

More information about AVERT

For more information about AVERT please go to the page about us, the AIDS charity AVERT.