Community engagement councils: Sustaining hepatitis B grassroots action

Long-time community partners The Hepatitis B Coalition of WA and International Community Health Services (a FQHC) have been collaborating to mobilize high risk communities to enact grassroots support for hepatitis B prevention and awareness. This relationship, including sharing resources, led to the “Hepatitis B Community Engagement Project,” which seeks to engage with high risk populations for chronic hepatitis B as indicated by the CDC, including Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians and other Pacific Islanders, and East Africans. This work also aims to increase appropriate adult immunization, remove the hepatitis B stigma among these populations, and identify and support those who are chronically infected, and educate their family and household members.

The project included 26 “community conversations” to assess hepatitis B knowledge and more importantly to develop and strengthen relationships with community partners. Feedback elicited informed the development of resources, such as standardized presentations and brochures in multiple languages. Following that, several community based workgroups formed into what became “Hepatitis B Community Engagement Councils.” Their goal is to identify and implement education and awareness activities specific to their communities.

After months of planning, the Vietnamese Engagement Council in Tacoma, WA successfully hosted a “Hepatitis B Community Workshop & Screening” on Nov 6, 2010. Their dedication brought out 300 Vietnamese participants; 121 of whom were tested after the presentation (9%, n=11 tested positive). The Ethiopian Council is taking shape; this group's workplan includes translation of materials into Amharic and Somali, development of in-language media tools, and sponsorship of an Ethiopian health fair.