Canada: 'Get informed, get tested': getting the word out about hepatitis C

Steve Pollard came close to death, underwent two liver transplants, and received treatment with experimental drugs before he was clear of hepatitis C and began to get his life back. When he recovered, he vowed he would devote his life to raising awareness about the viral disease — known as the “silent killer” — with the hope of preventing others from going through what he did.

Pollard, 48, was one of the speakers at an event outside Ottawa City Hall on Tuesday to mark World Hepatitis Day.

His message: “Get informed, get tested and tell a friend or loved one to do the same. If you are not doing it for yourself, do it for them.”

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Street Art Fair Raises Awareness About ‘Silent Killer’ Hepatitis C

DENVER (CBS4) – Local artists spent Sunday creating a mural to raise awareness about Hepatitis C. It’s a disease that patients call a silent killer.

Patients and survivors came out to the event to support World Hepatitis Day, including Rhonda Robineau. Today she is happy and healthy, but it wasn’t always that way.

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Ireland: Faithfull promotes Hepatitis C awareness week

Singer songwriter Marianne Faithfull is set to front Ireland’s
first campaign to promote awareness of hepatitis C.

The 68-year-old will front The National Hepatitis C Awareness Week. The campaign takes place from July 27 to 31, and Faithfull will be the guest speaker at the launch of the campaign tomorrow at 6pm in the Smock Alley Theatre in Dublin.

Hepatitis C is a viral infection that affects the liver, causing it to become inflamed and not work as effectively in the body. It can be contracted via blood-to-blood contact with an infected person’s blood.

Speaking to The Sunday Times, Faithfull said she was diagnosed with the virus 23 years ago.

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Australia: Senator Ian Macdonald on mission to remove hepatitis C stigma

EXCLUSIVE: Conservative Queensland Senator Ian Macdonald and his nephew are on a mission to tackle the stigma around hepatitis C and help improve access to life-saving treatments.

Senator Macdonald’s nephew Ian Pengelly, 44, was born with a form of haemophilia and contracted the potentially-deadly hepatitis C virus as a young teenager from the unscreened blood-clotting factor he was given as a part of his treatment during the 1980s.

This week, with the support of his uncle, Mr Pengelly is speaking publicly about his battle with the disease for the first time, and will detail his journey in a new book to be launched by Hepatitis Australia in Parliament House on Tuesday.

Around 230,000 Australians are believed to be living with chronic hepatitis C, a blood-borne virus which affects the liver and kills around 600 people each year.

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Mid-Mo Health Expo offers free health screenings

COLUMBIA — When the Missouri Hepatitis C Alliance held the inaugural Mid-Mo Health Expo last year at the Parkade Center, organizers envisioned a small health education fair for the community.

But when word got out that Boone Hospital Center was providing free health screenings, dozens came out to take advantage of the offer.

Sixty-seven participants received more than 300 screenings, said Aaron Boone, a development manager for the Missouri Hepatitis C Alliance.

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HealthWise: Hepatitis C Awareness—A Little Effort Makes a Big Difference, by Lucinda K. Porter, RN

Even if you know these facts about hepatitis C, please keep reading:

• More people in the U.S. die every year from hepatitis C than die from HIV.
• The hepatitis C death rate is increasing annually.
• The number of new hepatitis C infections is increasing at alarming rates, particularly among teens and young adults.
• Despite the increase in new hepatitis C virus (HCV) infections, there has been a decrease in the prevalence of HCV in the U.S. because so many are dying.
• Hepatitis C infection is preventable and curable. However, various obstacles stand in the way, two of which are:
• The majority of those with HCV don’t know they have it; you can’t treat HCV without a diagnosis, and
• Across the US, insurance companies and state Medicaid programs are denying treatment to many people. So, although HCV is curable and preventable we are miles away from preventing it and curing everyone.  

This month’s article suggests ways you can make a difference and change the strong hold that HCV has on our communities. May is Hepatitis Awareness Month and May 19 is Hepatitis Testing Day, both presenting opportunities for getting involved. We have the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to thank for initiating these events, but ultimately the success of these events depends on you. It is time for all of us to help.

If you think you don’t have the time for this, take note. The inspiration for this article is because Carleen McGuffey, a woman who had serious complications from HCV asked, “How can I, an average lay person with a heart to serve, put my time, money and effort behind stopping hep C? Where should I focus? How can we, the little people, make the most impact?”  Carleen has six children, is on treatment and is incredibly active in the HCV community. If she can find time to make a difference, anyone can.

If everyone did a little something to raise hep C awareness, think of the effect it would have. Just like the Grand Canyon was made drop by drop, HCV can be eradicated person by person. No act is too small; just act.   

So, Carleen, how can you serve?  How can you make the most impact?  Begin by searching your heart, and see where you are called. What stirs you up? What gives you joy? What makes you rage? What makes you want to make a difference? Is there a particular issue that really gets under your skin or makes you weep? It differs for each of us. Some of us focus on prevention; for some it is political advocacy or support groups. The list is endless. A huge part of my work focuses on helping patients through treatment, and helping people stay well with hep C. That is my passion, along with getting people tested.

If you are looking for ways to act, the CDC’s Know More Hepatitis campaign is a good place to start. It offers an extensive list of ways to raise awareness. Here are some things everyone can do and that don’t take a lot of time or money:

• Ask every baby boomer you meet to get tested.   
• Tell your story and put a face on hep C. This is a powerful way to defy stigma.
• Join an online or in-person support group. When we care for our wounded, we keep them in the fight for their lives.
• A low effort way to send a message is the signature line of your email, such as: “One in 30 Americans born between 1945 and 1965 is living with hepatitis C. Get tested, get treated, get cured!” I use a graphic from the CDC’s website.
• Check with your state’s CDC Viral Hepatitis Prevention Coordinator on programs or events in your state.
• Sign up for action alerts so you know what is going on. Make the occasional call, send a fax or email to your elected officials—local, state or federal. Silence is apathy. Let them know you care about hepatitis C, and that you expect them to care too. An office visit or speaking at public hearings has an even bigger impact. You can sign up for action alerts from NVHR and Caring Ambassadors.
• Post messages to Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest or Twitter reminding the world about hepatitis C.
• Write a letter to the editor of your local paper about the need to reach the estimated 75 percent of people who have hepatitis C but who are not yet diagnosed.
• Send money to your favorite viral hepatitis organization. No amount is too small. If everyone with HCV donated ten dollars, that would amount to nearly $30 million dollars.
• Ask your local radio station to run a public service announcement (PSA). The CDC provides some scripts.
• Send e-cards to friends, family, and colleagues who are baby boomers, encouraging them to get tested for hepatitis C.
• Send media alerts to local TV, radio, cable or newspapers to publicize noteworthy events, such as testing days.
• Ask your local governing body to issue a proclamation recognizing May as Hepatitis Awareness Month and/or May 19 as Hepatitis Testing Day. The CDC provides information on how to do this. After you get the proclamation, send a press release about it to your local paper.
• Ask organizations that have community calendars to promote local testing or awareness events. Check the NVHR member list to see what groups are active in your state.
• Learn more about HCV on the HCV Advocate’s website. Well-informed is well-armed. If you really want to expand your knowledge, look for trainings in your area provided by the Hepatitis C Support Project.
• Lastly, my favorite is a game I call, “Six -degrees of hepatitis C.” It’s based on the concept of six degrees of separation, which is the theory that a chain of “a friend of a friend” statements can be made to connect any two people in a maximum of six steps. Instead, when I meet someone for the first time, I try to work hepatitis C in to the conversation in six sentences or less. It is surprisingly easy, and fun to do.

If you are tempted to pass on the opportunity to raise awareness, keep in mind that in 2013, approximately 53 people died every day from hepatitis C. That is more than two an hour. With an increasing death rate, what are you waiting for? We have lives to save.  

Lucinda K. Porter, RN, is a long-time contributor to the HCV Advocate and author of Free from Hepatitis C and Hepatitis C One Step at a Time. Her blog is http://www.lucindaporterrn.com/


http://hcvadvocate.org/news/newsLetter/2015/advocate0515.html#1

Film Puts Hep C in the Spotlight

A film to raise awareness and increase knowledge of hepatitis C among GPs and other primary care practitioners has been launched today by the Royal College of GPs (RCGP),the Hepatitis C Trust and HCV Action.

Hepatitis C affects around 214,000 people in the UK and the virus can lead to liver disease and cancer, making it a significant public health issue.

With 90% of all patient contacts in the NHS conducted by GPs and their teams, it is likely that patients with hepatitis C will at some point be treated in general practice and wider primary care services, yet guidance from both the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) and Public Health England suggests that more needs to be done to raise awareness levels among primary care professionals.

Editor's note:  The link to the film in the article is bad.  Please use this one instead: http://hcvaction.org.uk/resource/film-detecting-managing-hepatitis-c-primary-care

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India: Portal to create awareness on Hepatitis C launched

Hyderabad, March 23:  Asian Institute of Gastroenterology (AIG) has launched a portal to create awareness on Hepatitis C.

This was formally launched by E S L Narasimhan, Governor, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, at a function here on Monday.

Speaking on the occasion, D Nageshwar Reddy, Chairman of AIG, said out of an estimated 150 million people affected by Hepatitis C in the world, 15 million were from India.

See also:  Most Hepatitis C affected untreated in India

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Fight on against Hepatitis C in Wisconsin and Minnesota

Superior, WI (NNCNOW.com) -- It's often referred to as a silent killer so Northland health care professionals have come together to learn more about Chronic Hepatitis C.

According to the Wisconsin Department of Health Services an estimated 74,000 people in Wisconsin are infected with Hepatitis C.

On Tuesday in Duluth and Superior, health care professionals learned how to identify patients at risk of Hepatitis C, and how to make appropriate referrals for diagnosis and treatment.

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Resolved For 2015: No More Hepatitis C

As we enter 2015, nonprofit organizations that specialize in health advocacy start to compile lists of ambitious resolutions for the New Year. They pledge to spread the word more widely than ever about a particular cause, to exert influence over lawmakers, and to enlist more scientists, advocates and donors in the latest public health crusade.

And I, as executive director of just such a nonprofit, could do the same. I could give you a rundown on our own resolutions to end the infectious disease known as hepatitis C.

Instead, I'm going to be really presumptuous. I'm going to take the liberty of making resolutions on behalf of others. I'll spell out the vows that I believe all the key stakeholders in the fight against hepatitis C should follow in the year ahead.

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