May is ‘Hepatitis Awareness Month’
Throughout May, during this year’s observance of Hepatitis Awareness Month, federal colleagues from across the U.S. Departments of Health and Human Services, Housing and Urban Development, Justice, and Veterans Affairs will be engaged in a variety of activities to increase awareness—among the public and healthcare providers—about viral hepatitis. Federal partners will be working to raise awareness of the importance of vaccination for hepatitis B, testing for hepatitis B and C, the availability of effective care and curative treatment, and the serious health consequences resulting from undiagnosed and untreated viral hepatitis.
· Take this 5-minute online hepatitis risk assessment developed by the CDC and get a personalized report on hepatitis testing and vaccination recommendations.
· Learn more about awareness activities, including testing events, taking place in communities around the country to mark Hepatitis Testing Day. This page from CDC allows people to search for Hepatitis Testing Day events taking place near them in May. Event organizers can also list their events.
· Review the web badges, digital tools, fact sheets, posters and other resources available from CDC on this page and find one you can use this month.
· Read more about the updated Viral Hepatitis Action Plan on our recently updated page.
For more resources and tools to use in observing Hepatitis Awareness Month and Hepatitis Testing Day, visit this resource page hosted by our colleagues at AIDS.gov.
Working together, we can raise awareness about the epidemic of viral hepatitis in the United States and, in so doing, improve the health of hundreds of thousands of Americans.
By Ronald Valdiserri, M.D., M.P.H., Deputy Assistant Secretary for Health, Infectious Diseases, and Director, Office of HIV/AIDS and Infectious Disease Policy, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
