Hepatitis B Community Engagement Project

International Community Health Services, a nonprofit community health center located in Seattle/King County, Washington and the Hepatitis B Coalition of Washington State, implemented a community mobilization project developing grassroots support for chronic hepatitis B awareness and screening. This Hepatitis B Community Engagement Project may lead to a larger Seattle Hep B Free program based on the San Francisco Hep B Free model. It focuses on refugee and immigrant communities identified by CDC as high risk for chronic hepatitis B, including Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians and other Pacific Islanders, and East Africans. Additionally, through this work we aim to increase appropriate adult immunization and to remove the stigma surrounding hepatitis B among these populations, pregnant mothers who are positive, and those who are chronically infected and their family and household members. In the fall of 2009, 18 “Talking Circles” (focus groups) and 8 key informant interviews were conducted with service providers and community members. The goals of these conversations were to strengthen and expand partnerships, assess hepatitis B awareness levels, discover barriers to education and treatment, and elicit recommendations for culturally appropriate health messages and strategies. In April 2010, feedback and lessons learned from these conversations will be shared at a community “Launch”. Materials developed from the input, including “Talking Points” for use by community based organizations and other service providers, will be distributed. Public messages will be disseminated with involvement from ethnic media, including print and radio. Plans for the next steps in hepatitis B advocacy will also be discussed.