Over 400 million people worldwide are living with chronic viral hepatitis and 350 million of those are infected with hepatitis B (HBV).
In the United States, around 5 million Americans are infected with HBV and over 70% of those people are not aware of their infection. More importantly, 1 in 10 Asian Americans is living with chronic hepatitis B, a staggering statistic.
Hepatitis B can cause cirrhosis and scarring of the liver, and currently contributes to about 78% of liver cancer and 57% of liver cirrhosis cases around the world. HBV can be spread from mother to child at the time of child birth, through incidental blood exposures, or through sexual contact. HBV is 100 times more contagious than HIV and contributes to about 1 million deaths each year.
Currently in the U.S., HBV is an illness that is not well understood by the general public and not treated as a significant issue. The fact that other complications such as HIV and cancer are placed so far ahead of HBV in terms of significance is a mistake as the statistics clearly show that HBV should be treated with the utmost importance.
In 2010, the Institute of Medicine (IOM) report, “Hepatitis and Liver Cancer: A National strategy for Prevention and Control of Hepatitis B and C,” recommended the U.S. government to increase prevention and treatment resources, and to strengthen public awareness for hepatitis B infection.
In response, the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) developed the action plan “Hepatitis and Liver Cancer: HSS action Plan for Prevention and Treatment of Viral Hepatitis, 2011”.
This plan is currently making headway in Congress and highlights a number of important strategies that the HHS hopes will dramatically improve HBV awareness in the U.S.
The strategies that the plan entails include developing a national education campaign that aims to increase awareness about HBV and educate the public about the potential risk factors associated with the virus.
Additionally, a comprehensive study will be done to provide more accurate statistics about HBV including the numbers of Asian America, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islanders (AANHPI) affected.
Specifically for the AANHPI community, the action plan will serve to develop targeted outreach programs, develop educational materials in number of AANHPI languages, partner with AANHPI organizations to promote awareness and education, and to aid people in medically underserved AANHPI communities.
The HSS Viral Hepatitis Plan will be hosting 2 events on May 12, 2011 on Capitol Hill in order to further its activities. There will be a congressional briefing on Capitol Hill in the moring and the HSS Viral Hepatitis Action Plan release event will be in the afternoon at the National Press Club.
As Asian Americans, it seems imperative that we motivate ourselves to promote the issues that hepatitis raises. As hepatitis has been an important issue that has affected our grandparents, parents, and our own generations, we should feel a sense of responsibility to ensure that the problems associated are solved for our children’s generation.
There is no better time than now to begin advocating for an issue that has been swept under the rug for far too long.
Song Fu is a Cell Biology & Genetics and Math double-major. He serves as the Asian American Student Union Vice President of External Affairs.
