Hispanics/Latinos and Hepatitis: An Overlooked Health Disparity. National Hispanic Hepatitis Awareness Day

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1 Hispanics/Latinos and Hepatitis: An Overlooked Health Disparity National Hispanic Hepatitis Awareness Day

2 HELLO! LUIS A. MARES, LMSW Director of Community Mobilization Latino Commission on AIDS.

3 LATINO COMMISSION ON AIDS

4 A nonprofit organization founded in 1990 to fight HIV/AIDS in Hispanic/Latino communities nationwide Services in 50 states, Puerto Rico, and U.S. Virgin Islands. Long demonstrated history of building national, regional and local coalitions Led by national AIDS advocate Dennis de Leon since 1993 until his passing in 2009 Since 2009, Guillermo Chacon has spearheaded coalition building, community mobilization & Spanishlanguage media outreach efforts as the President of the Commission

5 FIVE CORE AREAS 1. Capacity Building Assistance (CBA) 2. Disease Prevention and Health Promotion 3. Direct Services: Testing, Access, Navigation and Retention in Care 4. Health Policy, Community Action and Community Mobilization 5. Research and Evaluation/Institute for Latinx Health Equity

6 LCOA s Community Mobilization Programs : Creating Awareness and educating our communities October 15th May 15th September 15th

7 Why educate and mobilize? Because: The effects of the epidemics in our communities need to be addressed The lack of cultural sensitive services. Social determinants of health need to be addressed and understood. Need to address Stigma. Existence of misconceptions about health issues among Latinos.

8 Hispanics/Latinos and Hepatitis: An Overlooked Health Disparity

9 THE LATINO COMMUNITY IN U.S.A. The nation s largest ethnic / racial minority million almost 18% By % Quickly growing members are relatively young Heterogeneity

10 Latino Health Disparities Compared to non-hispanic whites, Latinos are 15% more likely to have liver disease. The most common cause of cirrhosis and liver cancer in the U.S.A. is viral hepatitis.

11 Liver Disease and Cirrhosis Chronic Liver Disease and Cirrhosis combined are the 7 th leading cause of death among Hispanics/Latinos (2015)

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13 Leading cause of Death by Ethnicity 2016

14 HCV Prevalence among Hispanics/Latinos 3 Prevalence of Hepatitis Prevalence of Hepatitis C among Hispanics/Latinos (2.6%) is higher than the prevalence among the general population (1.3%) NHANES Hispanics General Population

15 HCV Prevalence among Hispanics by country of origin 12.00% 10.00% 8.00% 6.00% 4.00% 2.00% 0.00% Puerto Rican Mexican Dominican Central American Cuban South American

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17 HCV Mortality Rates by Ethnicity ( ) Although the greatest increases in mortality occurred among non-hispanic blacks and American Indian/Alaska natives, the rates were consistently higher among Hispanics.

18 Disparities Hispanics are 60% more likely to die from viral hepatitis than whites CDC reported that Immunizations rates for hepatitis B for adults and adolescents were significantly lower among Hispanics

19 Disparities Possibilities: Testing rates may be low among Latinos The risk may be present and relatively high Established mortality records may under-represent the actual burden on the population

20 Recommendations : Increase Public Awareness in English and Spanish Awareness remains very low among Latinos Bring attention to the benefits of prevention, testing and treatment. Develop public awareness materials and disseminate them through social media and other venues. Monitor specific sub-groups at higher risk: baby boomers, young adults IDU MSM Transgender women

21 Recommendations : Capacity Building of Service providers Enhance health provider awareness of HCV prevention, screening, diagnosis and referral for HCV infection, and clinical providers to manage and treat HCV

22 Recommendations : Enhance surveillance activities A need to strengthen local, state and national capacity to manage and utilize data for evidence based approaches, policies and practices. We need to estimate the distribution of Latinos in surveilled states in relation to prevalence and incidence

23 Recommendations : Understanding of Latino/Hispanic Heterogeneity While there are some sub-groups that are highly impacted, there are other sub-groups that are impacted minimally by Hep C. When the different groups are included together to analyze as one group it provides an image of a community that is not affected by hepatitis C.

24 Recommendations : Ensuring Access to Hepatitis Prevention, Treatment and Care Prevention and Treatment interventions and research designs must account for variation in access to care, awareness of risk, institutional barriers such as racism, employment discrimination, immigration policies and social determinants of health.

25 Recommendations : Promoting and advancing policy Engage and collaborate with other local and state health departments, private sector and community engagement to promote and advance policies and regulations that will support the reduction of new Hepatitis C cases among the Latino Community.

26 National Hispanic Hepatitis Awareness Day (NHHAD) May 15th

27 NHHAD National Hispanic Hepatitis Awareness Day Developed by the Latino Commission on AIDS in It is a national social messaging campaign implemented nationally and tailored in each region. Draw attention to viral hepatitis testing, prevention, care and treatment. It is a collective movement aimed at educating and mobilizing Latino communities to increase their knowledge about the dangers of viral hepatitis and its prevalence in Hispanic communities.

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29 NHHAD Community Mobilizing campaign Foster a diverse network of agencies and stakeholders. Implemented at the local, regional and national level. Aimed at educating and mobilizing Latino/Hispanic communities to increase their knowledge on the impact of viral hepatitis..

30 NHHAD Social Messaging/marketing campaign Implemented every May 15th. To raise viral hepatitis awareness, prevention, testing, treatment education and patient action in the Latino community. To promote a change in behavior among Latinos to improve community well being, testing, treatment, etc.

31 NHHAD Core Elements 1. Partners: - Local - Regional - National 2. Conference calls: leadership and planning 3. Development and dissemination of materials i.e. campaign kit, website, messaging, images 4. Webinars, trainings, forum for discussion, technical assistance. 5. Events Press Conference

32 Place your screenshot here WEBSITE

33 NHHAD Webinars Community Voice on Hep C 2. Viral Hepatitis Overview 3. Updated National Viral Hepatitis Action Plan Latinos and Hepatitis C: Where we are and what we need to do. 5. OMHRC Efforts around Viral Hepatitis C among Latinos

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36 NHHAD Press Conference

37 THANKS! ANY QUESTIONS? You can contact me