Quarterly Newsletter of the African HIV Research Forum
 
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January 2004 • Volume 1 • Issue 3
 
   

Searching the Web

Searching the world wide web can be a daunting and time consuming affair. A google.com search of “African HIV” returned 81,900 results from UK websites alone. Of course, being more specific about what you are looking for greatly improves the accuracy of your search and the more terms entered the more relevant the results. However, getting optimal results from universal search engines such as Google and Yahoo is an acquired skill, often learned through trial and error. Usually what we need is to go straight to a web site of interest and search there. Below are some sites that provide a good starting point for those researching in HIV.
 

http://www.thenetworkonline.org.uk
The Network brings together over 60 community based HIV/AIDS organisations across the UK and provides a voice of organisations run for and by people living with HIV & AIDS. As well as providing information from a community perpspective, the website allows you sign up for daily news alerts about the latest developments in HIV/AIDS as reported in the international and national press.

http://www.avert.org
AVERT is an international HIV and AIDS charity based in the UK. Their website is one of the most popular in the world and provides excellent resources for the young and those new to HIV. The statistics section gives accurate and up-todate statistics about HIV and other Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs) both worldwide and by region.

http://www.sigmaresearch.org.uk/
Sigma Research is a social research group specialising in the behavioural and policy aspects of HIV, AIDS and sexual health. Their website provides a comprehensive listing of their published reports (availlable to download) as well as access to questionnaires used in the research. An excellent site for those seeking examples of good report writing.

www.blackhealthagency.org.uk
The Black Health Agency’s webstie is due to re-launch in February 2004. The site will hopefully provide detailed information about the activities of HIV organisations in the north of England.

http://www.hpa.org.uk/infections/topics_az/hiv_and_sti/hiv/hiv.htm
The new Health Protection Agency website contains plenty of detailed information about a variety of communicable diseases. Unfortunately the website is a bit diffcult to navigate, making the latest HIV survellance data almost impossible to locate in a hurry. This URL that takes you straight to the HIV section. The annual report on HIV and STIs can be easily found from there.

www.ahpn.org.uk
The African HIV Policy Network website lists contact details for African Health Forums across the UK.

www.aidsmap.com
This excellent site provides access to the British HIV Association, the National AIDS Manual, The International HIV/AIDS Alliance and all the information contained within. Users should go straight to the sitemap to search for documents about treatment, prevention, and community action. The site also includes an extensive links section.

http://aidsmobility.org/
The European Project AIDS & Mobility (A&M) offers support to organisations within the European Union that provide HIV/AIDS-related services to migrant populations (prevention, care and support). The Documentation Centre on the website allows you to search over 900 publications on HIV prevention and care for migrants and ethnic minority groups, refugees and tourists.