What We Do

HBCW raises hepatitis B awareness in various ways and at various levels: partnering with local, state, and national partners; developing and distributing culturally appropriate outreach materials and resources; and providing presentations and screenings to high risk communities.

Annual Hepatitis B Forum

Every May, HBCW kicks off hepatitis awareness month with the Annual Hepatitis B Forum. On May 6th, 2010, over 80 participants attended this interactive evening. Leaders from Virginia Mason Medical Center, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Harborview Medical Center, International Community Health Services (ICHS), representatives from local health jurisdictions and the state health department, hospitals, clinics, colleagues from community based organizations, and Coalition volunteers were present.

The audience enjoyed informative speakers and discussions about the links between national, local, and grassroots efforts, and future opportunities around viral hepatitis prevention. Keynote presenters were Michael McKee, HBCW Vice-Chair and ICHS' Health Services Director; and Xuan Man, Refugee Health Screening Program Coordinator at the Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department. Mr. McKee presented lessons learned from the Hepatitis B Community Engagement Project, a collaborative effort between HBCW and ICHS. This project was aimed at strengthening community capacity to address hepatitis B-related health disparities. Ms. Man discussed her experiences working with refugees and coordinating the local Vietnamese "Talking Circle" group.

Participants also discussed and shared the different efforts happening at the national, state, local, and grassroots efforts, and identified where they see themselves. The evening ended with HBCW Advisory member Dr. John Choe presenting the 2010 Hepatitis B Outstanding Leadership Award to the Chinese Information Service Center for their active participation in furthering the work to reduce hepatitis B and its complications through innovative partnerships.

Our thanks to all those who participated and attended! View photos from the Forum here.

Hepatitis B Community Engagement Project

In summer 2009, the Hepatitis B Coalition of WA and International Community Health Services (ICHS) discussed expanding current grassroots efforts to better address chronic hepatitis B in the Seattle and Puget Sound area. Discussions resulted in the Hepatitis B Community Engagement Project, a unique and innovative collaborative and mobilization effort. The project was organic and made possible through each partner’s community networks, shared resources, and mutual but non-duplicative goals.

The project seeks to raise and expand awareness and action among those populations identified by CDC as high risk for chronic hepatitis B, including immigrants, refugees, Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, Pacific Islanders, and East Africans. It also aims to increase appropriate adult immunization and to remove the hepatitis B stigma among these populations, pregnant mothers who are positive, and those who are chronically infected and their family and household members.

This led to 26 "community conversations" held in the fall of 2009 with service providers and community members via group discussions and individual interviews. These discussion goals were to strengthen and expand partnerships, assess awareness levels, discover barriers to education and treatment, and elicit recommendations for culturally appropriate health messages and strategies.

Input, lessons learned, and materials developed from these conversations were shared at the Community Launch in April 2010 and highlighted at HBCW’s May 2010 Annual Hepatitis B Forum. Resources developed from these conversations were distributed via flash drives, and can be viewed and downloaded here.

For the remainder of 2010, the workgroup plans to return to as many of the partners involved in the "community conversations" as possible. If you were involved in these conversations, or want more information, contact Kim Nguyen at 206.830.5156.