The "POSITIFS" association has been accessible on the Internet since the second quarter of 1996.

This is a site for information on both the medical and non-medical aspects of AIDS, a tool for combating it and a means of helping people.
This service is therefore aimed at all those who are concerned, closely or otherwise, by this world-wide epidemic.
Since AIDS has much in common with other illnesses, and other delicate situations, and because of its manifold consequences, the site will also cover many other domains.
As a result of the global extension of the Internet web, the development of cyber-cafes, documentation centres, libraries, family planning centres, etc., has made it possible to increase the impact of Internet sites by enabling people who are not connected to Internet themselves to have access to it.
For our part, we shall indirectly be encouraging access to our site through our association, "POSITIFS", by using traditional existing means of communication such as mail services, the telephone and fax, as well as our "POSITIFS" journal (Sida Tout Va Bien), and contacts with other associations combating AIDS, other journals and public and private establishments.
Finally, we shall endeavour to make it possible for the inhabitants of non-French speaking countries to have access to our site by translating some of our informations into various languages.
Despite the dominant position of English, not all the peoples of the countries of Europe, and other continents, master it sufficiently well for it to be used to the exclusion of other languages.
We think that it is particulary important to develop this system of multi-lingual translations, as supplying computerized information can provide a solution to the huge reduction in the transmission of information caused by the exorbitant cost of paper and distribution in some countries.
The basic characteristics of most Internet sites, particulary the "POSITIFS" site, should be facilitate access to a wide range of informations, to offer various services and to tackle all aspects of solitude.

We also number ourselves amongst those who want to develop to the utmost the concept of no-cost access, but this does not mean that our information can ever be used without our knowledge either by individuals or by financial groups, for the purposes of profit or gain.

We have attained 500,000 connections in June 1999 !

Issues: To describe the possibilities offered by an Internet website (<http://www.positifs.org/>) to inform and fight against AIDS, other diseases, social exclusion and loneliness.

Description: This Internet website has been developed to provide information on numerous subjects concerning AIDS and other medical subjects (carcinogenesis, spongiform encephalopathies, dioxin, diethylstibestrol/DES, angiogenesis, autoimmune diseases, Ebola virus, hepatitis, opiates substitutes, tuberculosis, effects of antibiotics on immune defense, vaccines, osteoporosis, apoptosis, rare diseases, orphan drugs, etc).
These informations are written in French, some have been translated in English. This Internet website is intended for physicians as well as HIV+ or other persons. To develop our Internet website, we use computers belonging to several members of Positifs, association fighting AIDS which has at the moment no financial support.
Four years after its creation, 1,000,000 connexions to this website have been reached (May 2000), and since the end of autumn 1999, more than 50,000 have been noted every month.
Almost 1,500 pages have been developed, information on numerous subjects concerning AIDS, particularly official and non official treatments, various medical and non medical testimonies, an index of associations and institutions taking part in AIDS fighting, composed of more 1,000 addresses, classified by countries and itemized with a system of 23 abbreviations, a Calendar of people who lived with AIDS, picture gallery, poems ("Poe-VIH"), etc.
We are asked more and more questions by mail, particularly from France, Africa, Belgium, Canada and Switzerland. These questions and their answers are indexed by key words (more than 120) and published in the FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) heading of our site. We also created the network of French-speaking websites (in partnership with Info-Sida Suisse) as well as Internet sites for other associations within our own site.

Conclusion : Thanks to its rapidity of data transmission and to its weak use cost, which is essential for developing countries, Internet is becoming a precious communication tool for more and more people.
One of the main features of our website is its total gratuitousness in the sole interest of patients in contrast with other sites or institutions whose aim is business.
In spite of the lack of subvention, our website is already one of the most consulted in Europe, but also in Africa and Canada ; and, more and more people living in USA, in Japan and also in other countries of Asia and in Latin America visit our site.
It allows to edit numerous informations concerning AIDS, particularly official and non official treatments, and other diseases.

Authors: Alain RICHERT, Gilbert MAURISSON, Christian BOULLANGIER, Didier LAVIGNE, Adrien CAPRANI, Jacques AVICENNE, POSITIFS association, BP 230, 75865 Paris cedex 18, France, mailto:positifs@positifs.org.

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Note: abstract TuPeD3833 updated during May 2000, accepted for presentation at the 13th International Conference on AIDS (Durban, South Africa, 9-14/07/2000).