May 19th is National Hepatitis Testing Day and we call on you, as a primary care provider, to commit to screening five patients for hepatitis. As the first, and in some cases only, point of contact your patients have with the medical community, we want to remind you that an estimated 3.5-5.3 million people in the U.S. are living with viral hepatitis and that 65%-75% do not know it.
In our Second Annual HealthHIV State of HIV Primary Care Survey HealthHIV found that 47% of primary care providers responded that they are seeing an increase in the numbers of hepatitis C patients. This increase is occurring even as 34% of responding primary care providers said that they do not provide hepatitis C screening.
Help us address this gap by committing to give 5 of your patients a hepatitis test.
We also are developing a new project - HealthHepatitis - that will help you, your patients, and your community improve effective prevention, care, and support for people living with, or at risk for, viral hepatitis. Please visit HealthHIV.org over the next few months as we announce new educational, capacity building, and research activities to help improve hepatitis-related health outcomes.
You can also learn more about screening for hepatitis by visiting these sites:
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