Access to information has always been a fundamental requirement for individuals to take informed decisions about their sexual health. It has also been the case throughout the whole of the HIV epidemic that many people have struggled to access clear, up-to-date, evidence-based information. For 27 years Avert.org provided a trusted source of information for people around the world, in times when information was hard to come by, sometimes on issues that many weren’t prepared to talk about, and in a way that was independent, evidence-based and trusted.

During its lifetime, Avert.org became a leading global site on HIV and AIDS reaching an estimated 330 million people between 1995 and 2022!

People reached included individual information seekers, researchers, NGO and INGO professionals, policy makers, community health workers, donors, students, and many more. Over the years the site was continually improved based on the evidence, analytics and feedback of users, with over 80% of users in recent years reporting they had learned something new through their interaction with the site.

At its height, the Avert.org news service for HIV professionals was being viewed over half a million times each year.

The rise of social media also provided new channels that could be used to reach young people, with social media campaigns playing a bigger role in disseminating information and marketing the site.

Avert.org received a number of awards, including first prize at the British Medical Association Patient Information Awards 2005 and then the prestigious Nominet Internet Award under the ‘Online Training and Education’ category, in association with the British Library in 2012.

Launched before smartphones existed, by the time Avert.org was decommissioned over 80% of traffic was via mobile.

The learning and evidence from Avert.org was used to develop the Be in the KNOW sexual health brand which launched in April 2022. BITK continued to provide engaging and accessible information on sexual health and HIV to a new generation of young people, primarily in sub-Saharan Africa, and the educators and health practitioners in their communities.