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Chapter News & Updates

The northen California chapter is a steering committee member of The California Hepatitis Alliance (CalHep)
August 30, 2007- The California Hepatitis Alliance (CalHep) seeks to reduce the scope and consequences of the hepatitis B and C epidemics, which disproportionately affect California’s ethnic communities and the socioeconomically underserved. Committed to culturally competent public education and awareness, CalHep focuses on sound public health policy and advocacy to improve California’s public health approach to liver wellness.

With funding from the California Endowment (TCE), CalHep’s advocacy is focused on its statewide Liver Wellness Plan, a comprehensive and culturally competent solution to the viral hepatitis B and C epidemics in California. The Center for Health Improvement (CHI) a nonprofit, non-partisan health policy organization in Sacramento, is serving as the administrative agency to this new organization for the implementation of three key strategies:

• Advocacy: CalHep is creating a statewide network of advocates to educate and build relationships with policy makers and public health departments. Biannual membership meetings are held in northern and southern California, along with member teleconferences.

• Policy Analysis and Development: CalHep is developing an evidence-based viral hepatitis policy agenda. Under the direction of CHI, CalHep is analyzing successful models in other states as well as potential implementation barriers’ in order to improve California’s public health approach to viral hepatitis.

• Communication: CalHep is developing a web-based clearinghouse for its viral hepatitis policy information, advocacy efforts, and organizational efforts.

CalHep Steering Committee:

Leslie Benson, Executive Director of Education for Healthy Choices

Carol Craig, Hepatitis Special Projects Consultant

Alan Franciscus, Executive Director of Hepatitis C Project and Editor-in-Chief of HCV Advocate

Ke-Qin Hu, MD, Director of Hepatology Services, Associate Professor of Clinical Medicine at UC Irvine Medical Center

David Kilburn, AIDS Support Network, San Luis Obispo County Hepatitis C Project

Stephen David Simon, JD, AIDS Coordinator for the City of Los Angeles

Siana Sylvestre, MD (Chair), Medical Director of OASIS Clinic

Linden Young, Executive Director of the American Liver Foundation, Northern California Chapter

Sherri Ziegler, Director of Nor-Cal Hepatitis C Task Force

The American Liver Foundation is proud to be a community partner of the SF Hep B Free campaign.

August 1, 2007- San Francisco Hep B Free is a citywide campaign to turn San Francisco into the first hepatitis B free city in the nation. This unprecedented 2-year-long campaign will screen, vaccinate and treat all San Francisco Asian and Pacific Islander (API) residents of hepatitis B (HBV) by providing convenient, free or low-cost testing opportunities at partnering health facilities and events.

API’s have the highest risk of HBV of any ethnic group. San Francisco’s API residents comprise 34% of the city’s population and bear a disproportionate burden of liver cancer and undetected HBV infection. Hepatitis B is a serious disease responsible for 80% of all liver cancers among APIs. San Francisco has the highest liver cancer rate in the nation. It is estimated that 1 in 10 people in the API community have an undiagnosed infection. APIs are up to 100 times more likely to suffer from chronic HBV infection and 4 times more likely to die from liver cancer compared with the general population.

The SF Hep B Free campaign puts San Francisco at the forefront of America in fighting chronic hepatitis. It will be the largest, most intensive healthcare campaign for Asian and Pacific Islanders in the U.S. This initiative has received national attention and is being looked to as a model by the California legislature. Mayor Gavin Newsom, Assemblywoman Fiona Ma and Supervisor Ed Jew are leading the effort with more than 50 healthcare and Asian Pacific Islander (API) organizations. The SF Board of Supervisors and SF Health Commission have passed unanimous resolutions supporting SF Hep B Free.

The SF Hep B Free Steering Committee is made up of the San Francisco Department of Public Health, Asian Liver Center at Stanford University, and AsianWeek Foundation. Assemblywoman Ma serves as Honorary Chairperson.

www.sfhepbfree.org

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Page updated: December 8th, 2007