A Journey of Discovery in Hepatitis B and C

About My Journey

My name is Raquel and over the next 12 months I will be travelling around the world on behalf of the World Hepatitis Alliance. As part of my tour, I will be meeting with patients, medical associations, patient groups and politicians to gain a better understanding of how countries are tackling hepatitis B and C and to share best practice from other countries...

Who am I? Well, 3½ years ago I knocked on a charity's door in London to ask if I could interview some people for my masters thesis on hepatitis. Since then I have turned a personal interest into my daily working life and have never left the hepatitis field. I have always been passionate about hepatitis – I lost someone I loved dearly to hepatitis C when I was 15 and have seen many other people needlessly suffer from hepatitis C and B through my charity work in this field.

Knowing that treatments for hepatitis C can be very effective if patients are diagnosed early and that there is a vaccine to prevent hepatitis B motivates me to continue raising awareness of these diseases which collectively affect 500 million people in the world and take 1.5 million lives a year.

I hope my journey helps bring change for the hepatitis community and that people benefit from it as a consequence. Welcome to my blog: keep up to date with my journey here!

Where will I be visiting?

On behalf of the World Hepatitis Alliance, I will be visiting the following countries to learn about how governments, patient advocacy groups and the medical community are tackling chronic hepatitis B and C:

  • Argentina
  • Australia
  • Bangladesh
  • Brazil
  • China (including Hong Kong and Taiwan)
  • Ghana
  • Poland
  • New Zealand
  • Scotland
  • USA
  • Vietnam

Blogging Together

Blogging together is an opportunity for bloggers, vloggers, and photo-bloggers to support the 'Am I Number 12?' campaign. Add a badge and show your support for the 500 million people living with hepatitis B and C today.

Alternatively if you want to make your own badge, send it to us and we will include it in our gallery of badges: worldhepday@fleishman.com

Join me and support worldhepatitisday.org

'Am I Number 12?' UK campaign - hanging out with Jack Davenport and Michelle Gomez

04/29/09 by: Raquel Jose

As I mentioned in my previous post I met with actress Michelle Gomez and her husband actor Jack Davenport to talk to them about their experiences with hepatitis C - and the meeting was a great success.  We visited them at their home in London and they were incredibly interesting to talk to.

Both Michelle and Jack have friends with hepatitis C and therefore have experienced first-hand the devastating effects of the disease and how life-changing a diagnosis can be. They are really supportive of the World Hepatitis Day campaign, pledging their name to the cause and helping raise awareness of the need for people to Get Tested.
 
The Hepatitis C Trust recorded a podcast with both of them which I'll be sure to post a link to when it goes live.
 
Finally, here's a picture of me and the Davenport family. Even their dog, Frank, showed his support for 'Am I Number 12?'!
 


Jack Davenport and Michelle Gomez
So, the UK 'Am I Number 12?' campaign kicks off soon - I'm sure it will be very successful!

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5 Comments | Permalink | No TrackBacks

05/ 6/09 by: lissy

How i wish there's already an existing drug that can totally wipe out & eradicate this viral hepatitis. honestly, i'm a hepB carrier & even my bros (we've got this thru vertical transmission). it totally affected our lives, we find it hard to look for a good & decent job. lots of job screens applicants thru medical exams & it's very hard- we always fail. my bros are becoming hopeless.

At first, they've dreamed of working overseas but due to rigid medical exams-we didn't push thru.

I wish there are lots of clinical trials investing in the development of effective drug for this...

05/11/09 by: Raquel Jose

Lissy, thank you for sharing your story. Vaccination and effective treatment are the key to eradicating hepatitis B. I am sorry to hear that as you contracted the virus at birth and were not one of the lucky ones to clear it. Discrimination in the workplace is sadly all too common, and is something that the World Hepatitis Alliance is trying to combat through its disease awareness campaign.

I also recently attended the European Association for the Study of the Liver Congress in Copenhagen (will post about it this week) and I can tell you that drug companies are indeed investing in the hepatitis B field so hopefully we’ll have some break-throughs in the future.

I really sympathise with your story, and there are many other people around the world who are experiencing the same problems. Can you send me details of where you are from to worldhepday@fleishman.com and we can try to put you in touch with a local patient group?

05/23/09 by: Pameladina

I like your post. Good stuff. Keep them coming :)…

06/12/09 by: Kelly Brown

The article is ver good. Write please more

06/17/09 by: Raquel Jose

Hello Kelly, thanks very much for sharing your interest in our blog. You can read more about the UK’s campaign next week, when I post about their double-decker testing buses (and Sadie Frost’s presence at their event). In the meantime, you can read about what went on in Taiwan and Germany – entries will come soon. You can also check our youtube page http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gnMpi7SkBGw where you can find Jack’s and Michelle’s podcasts as well as other interesting videos produced to mark the day.

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