[Quality assurance of medical information in the internet--challenges for a seal of approval in gynecology].

The Internet offers a vast amount of medical information for laymen and experts. Many sites focus on gynecology and obstetrics. The multitude of information and lacking structure make it difficult to retrieve high-quality information and to distinguish them from dubious ones. Many projects were started to solve these challenges. Criteria for assessing medical information on the internet were published by several authors. Some information providers comply to such standards voluntary to show their quality standards. There are scientific councils who assess individual sits. The Concerted Action on Health Information Systems (Aktions forum Gesundheits informations systeme AFGIS) was founded by the German Federal Ministry of Health to coordinate existing activities. The knowledge of experts is essential to describe and rate internet resources. The cooperation of the scientific medical societies in Germany should be an aim to make a quality seal for information on gynecology and obstetrics possible.