UCSF's "HIV InSite", launched only one month ago on the World Wide Web, has been "hit" -- or accessed -- more than half a million times.

The top-rated UCSF AIDS Program at San Francisco General Hospital and the UCSF Center for AIDS Prevention Studies (CAPS), programs of the UCSF AIDS Research Institute, created "HIV InSite" as a one-stop shop for reliable, peer-reviewed AIDS information. It is the only website that contains research written, edited and maintained by frontline AIDS researchers from a health sciences institution.

"With the launch of HIV InSite, patients, physicians, researchers, policymakers, health service providers, community organizers and journalists can be ensured that they are accessing the most reliable and current online resource for AIDS knowledge," said Tom Coates, director of the Center for AIDS Prevention Studies and the new UCSF AIDS Research Institute .

Surfers of the Internet and users of "HIV InSite" benefit from the breadth of in-depth information on the site--from treatment, clinical drug trials, epidemiology and basic research to social and policy issues, prevention programs, population subgroups, and ethics.
A distinct advantage of HIV InSite is the ability of the user to "see the big picture" of the AIDS topic he or she is researching, thereby adding value to the search, said Nicole Mandel, project manager of the web site.

For example, a reporter in New Mexico who might be writing a story about HIV infection among teenage runaways may dial up the Internet to find out prevalence statistics. Accessing HIV InSite, the reporter will not only find out HIV rates among this group, which can be broken down by regions or states, but will find facts on homelessness and AIDS, a research study on HIV prevention for high-risk youth, and lists of local and national advocacy groups working with young people.

"The comprehensive nature of HIV Insite adds value to the researchers' information search," Mandel said.

1st appeared 4/15/97