In observance of Hepatitis Awareness Month, I am posting to this blog daily, highlighting websites and organizations that are doing remarkable work educating the public, raising awareness, and making a difference in the lives of those affected by viral hepatitis. I suggest you visit each site, and find out what they are doing, how you can stay informed, and possibly help with their efforts.

Every time I attend an event that includes hepatitis B, I leave determined to do more to increase awareness about this disease. The truth is, that I fall short of my goals, perhaps because I never had hepatitis B. However, hep B is a potentially devastating virus. When I worked at Stanford Medical Center, I had a patient who was 40 years old and had liver cancer. He was the only remaining survivor of his family. His parents and five siblings had all died from hepatocellular carcinoma. 

Hep B United is a national coalition that focuses on hepatitis B. Their goal is to support and leverage the success of local community coalitions across the U.S. to increase hepatitis B awareness, screening, vaccination and linkage to care for all Americans, but in particular, for high-risk Asian and Pacific Islander populations who are disproportionately impacted.

I suggest you check out the Hep B United website for more information. For a moving message about the seriousness of hep B, check out this one-minute trailer on the documentary “Be About It.”

Follow Hep B United on Twitter @HepBUnited