A call for advocacy and patient voice to eliminate hepatitis B virus infection
Abstract
Hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection is estimated to affect around 300 million individuals worldwide, but has been neglected by health-care provision, education, research, and policy. 1 , 2 In light of the WHO goal to eliminate viral hepatitis as a public health threat by 2030, there is an urgent need for enhanced advocacy for HBV. Organisations representing and led by individuals with tuberculosis, HIV, and hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection have set a precedent for the provision of infrastructure, education, peer support, fundraising, and advocacy, often with support from large international donors. Parallel examples of advocacy for HBV are scarce, highlighted by a patient describing the HBV community as “the forgotten people” (appendix p 1). Enhanced interdisciplinary action, which can have far-reaching benefits, is urgently needed to promote and diversify representation of people with lived experience of HBV infection (figure). We convened an interdisciplinary group to gather evidence and set out a framework for action, which we present here, considering the challenges and barriers to engagement, and reflecting on the need for patient voices to drive progress.
Author
Citations
Altmetric:
Date
2022
Type
Article
Subject
Hepatitis B, Patient advocacy, Prevention
Collections
Citation
Matthews, P.C., Jack, K., Wang, S., Abbott, J., Bryce, K., Cheng, B., Ghosh, I., Story, A., Chen, J., Munoz, C., Bell, J., Riddell, S., Goldring, A., Goddard, C., Moraras, K., Cohen, C., Brown, K., Lazarus, J.V. and Elsharkawy, A.M. (2022) 'A call for advocacy and patient voice to eliminate hepatitis B virus infection', The lancet.Gastroenterology & hepatology, 7(4), pp. 282-285. doi: https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S2468-1253(21)00475-1.
Journal / Source Title
DOI
PMID
Publisher
Elsevier Ltd