1 in 12 Asian and Pacific Islander Americans is chronically infected with hepatitis B. Join the fight against this silent killer. Help do your part by educating yourself about hepatitis B and spreading awareness of the disease through advocacy, education, and/or screening events!
Announcements
- National APAMSA is continuing to offer Education Grants to host talks on hepatitis B. Access the application here. Applications are due on the last date of February, March, and April.
- Need help finding a clinician to give a talk about hepatitis B or to serve as an adviser for your hepatitis B initiative? Then try searching through the APAMSA Hepatitis B Directory of Clinicians.
- Sign the APAMSA Hepatitis B Pledge today to get on the APAMSA Hepatitis B Honor Roll!
- Receive recognition for your hepatitis B outreach efforts through the APAMSA Hepatitis B Jade Outreach Program.
- Congratulations to the awardees of this year’s 2012 APAMSA Hepatitis B Screening and Education Grants!
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President Elect Jason Chen and APAMSA Student Leaders with U.S. Assistant Secretary for Health, Dr. Howard Koh.
APAMSA Student Leaders from Vanderbilt University, Stanford University, and University of California San Francisco with Emmy Award Winning ABC Anchor Alan Wang at the 2011 Hep B Gala in San Francisco.
Did You Know?
Most individuals from Asia and the Pacific Rim become infected with the hepatitis B virus (HBV) through transmission from their mother at the time of birth.
The hepatitis B virus is 100 times more infectious than HIV.
The greatest health disparity between Asian Americans and Caucasian Americans is liver cancer, 80% of which is caused by chronic hepatitis B virus infection.
Without proper monitoring, 1 out of 4 people who are chronically infected with HBV will die of HBV-related liver cancer or cirrhosis. That’s 100 million of the 400 million individuals who are chronically infected with HBV in the world.
In API men living in California, liver cancer ranks as a leading cause of cancer death: #1 in Laotian Americans, #2 in Vietnamese and Cambodian Americans, #4 in Chinese and Korean Americans, and #5 in Filipino Americans. (http://liver.stanford.edu/)
All newborns and children under 19 years of age in the United States are recommended to receive hepatitis B vaccination, particularly API children. The hepatitis B vaccine is free for children under 19 years of age through the federal Vaccines for Children program.
APAMSA’s Dedication to Hepatitis B
A vaccine and treatment options are available for hepatitis B, yet the prevalence rates in API Americans are staggeringly high. You as members of APAMSA, dedicated to improving the health and well-being of Asian Pacific Americans, can make a difference! If we as a nation of APAMSA chapters work together, we can collectively take action against an entirely preventable disease.
Our APAMSA National Hepatitis B Project is dedicated to educating, screening, and immunizing the APA community for hepatitis B. Hepatitis B is a devastating liver disease which is extremely prevalent in the Asian Pacific American Community. It is often called a “silent killer” because symptoms typically do not arise until there are serious liver complications such as liver cirrhosis, liver failure, and liver cancer. Our goal is for all chapters to educate medical students and local community members about the burden of hepatitis B in the API community. A variety of interactive tools are available on our website.
APAMSA National Hepatitis B Conference To address this issue, APAMSA has held a National Hepatitis B Conference every year since 2006. The programming consists of keynote speeches by world renowned hepatologists. In addition, during the lunch session, leading hepatologists from around the country lead students in break-out sessions to discuss and brainstorm hepatitis B outreach projects in their local areas.
APAMSA’s Hepatitis B How-to-Guide The first ever Hepatitis B How-to-Guide is complete with step-by-step instructions on how to conduct a screening, as well as in-language materials, suggestions for educational events, and important community contacts. It an important resource for all chapters and the community.
If you have any questions about APAMSA’s National Hepatitis B Project please contact hepatitis@apamsa.org.
