- About Us
- Hepatitis B Info
- Resource Library
- News and Events
Defining the Problem
Learn more about what is being done to address the hepatitis B disparity across the U.S.
Institute of Medicine Recommendations
In January 2010, the Institute of Medicine released a report entitled "Hepatitis and Liver Cancer: A National Strategy for Prevention and Control of Hepatitis B and C." This report outlines the resources and actions needed to address the unusually high burden of liver cancer and hepatitis B among Asian Americans and other vulnerable populations. It serves as a powerful call to action for legislators at the local, state and national level and can be used by advocates in any affected community.
Screening & Management Guidelines
The CDC and the National Taskforce on Hepatitis B have issued guidelines to promote standardization for screening and treating HBV.
September 2008: The CDC recommends routine testing for individuals born in Asia and other geographic regions with a 2 percent or higher prevalence of chronic hepatitis B virus infection, and for US-born individuals whose parents were born in regions with 8 percent or higher prevalence.
October 2008: The NIH Consensus Development Conference: Management of Hepatitis B convened experts from the field to assess the state of evidence-based practices and research in hepatitis B. The discussions at the conference resulted in a final statement calling for the need for more research to be done in order for a consensus to be made on the best practices for hepatitis B treatment. Read more about the meeting and final statement here.
September 2009: A national expert forum on viral hepatitis, The Dawn of a New Era: Transforming our Domestic Response to Hepatitis B & C, was held at Washington, DC. The forum was sponsored by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, the American Gastroenterological Association’s AGA Institute and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, with educational grant support from Gilead Sciences, Bristol-Myers Squibb and Vertex Pharmaceuticals. It was attended by some 200 public health, medical, government and community experts. Read the executive summary of the summit here.
Funding for Hepatitis B Research
In Winter 2005, the Hepatitis B Foundation published the article, “Do Dollars Equal Concern? The State of HBV Researching Funding,” an overview of the lack of information on HBV and how it relates to national funding.
A more recent article published in March 2009 shows that hepatitis B research funding has been increasing. However, there is still a need for more federal funding to meet many unmet needs related to hepatitis B. Read the report from NASTAD that outlines the current state of federal funding for hepatitis.