Friday, May 15, marks the fourth annual National Hispanic Hepatitis Awareness Day (NHHAD), a community movement that hopes to raise awareness for viral hepatitis among one of the most at-risk U.S. populations, according to a press release from the Latino Commission on AIDS (LCOA), which is hosting several events in New York City to honor the day.
NHHAD is a part of National Hepatitis Awareness Month, which takes place every May. The theme of this year’s Latino awareness day is “Mi Gente, Let’s Talk About Hepatitis” (“Mi Gente, Hablemos Sobre La Hepatitis”).
On Thursday, May 14, LCOA and more than 100 viral hepatitis advocates kicked off NHAAD with a protest on the steps of City Hall. LCOA also hosted a Spanish-language webinar on Thursday afternoon about hepatitis awareness in collaboration with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
Latinos are twice as likely to die from the hepatitis C virus (HCV) and the hepatitis B virus (HBV) compared with their white counterparts—even with hep C cures reaching 100 percent efficacy. There is currently no cure for hepatitis B.
For more information about viral hepatitis in the Latino community, log on to Twitter at 3 p.m. Eastern on Friday, when the National Viral Hepatitis Roundtable will co-host a live Twitter chat with awareness day advocates under the hashtags #NHHAD and #hepaware.
There are also a number of NHHAD posters available for download on LCOA’s site, as well as a rolling list of NHHAD events taking place across the country.
