What you need to know
Learn about Hepatitis Awareness Month in October and how it was established decades ago to draw public attention to the health crisis caused by hepatitis infections.
The month recognizes the dedication and contributions of scientists, including Nobel Prize winner Michael Houghton and his research team who identified hepatitis C in 1989, and the efforts of scientists, health care workers, and others in the fight against hepatitis. It emphasizes the collaborative efforts of volunteers.
The month also highlights the importance of addressing the “hesitancy issue” among at-risk populations and providing easy-to-understand information about liver health to children, government agencies, and the military.
October is a time to celebrate Hepatitis Awareness Month, which was established decades ago to raise public awareness of the health crisis posed by hepatitis infections. At the time, medical solutions to the crisis remained elusive due to several “unidentified hepatitis viruses,” including one known as non-A-non-B hepatitis.
It is also a time to express our heartfelt gratitude and applaud the dedication and contributions of the scientists who have made the breakthrough discoveries that have powered this fight. Nobel Prize winner Dr. Michael Horton and his dedicated research team identified hepatitis C in 1989 after decades of searching for answers. Thanks to Mr. Horton, thousands of scientists, physicians, health care providers, and millions of involved volunteers, we have much to celebrate. On this anniversary.
Celebrate this Hepatitis Awareness Month by adding liver education to your lifesaving efforts by helping millions of uninformed people learn how to protect their livers and their lives. In addition to campaigns to promote the eradication of viral hepatitis, this awareness campaign will address the ‘hesitancy issue’ of infected people at risk and include a national campaign that includes understandable, empathetic and memorable content. We draw attention to the pressing need to provide liver education campaigns. Information for all children in school, government agencies, and the military.
It is also an easy to share and understandable tool for uninformed teachers, professors, counselors and parents to motivate patients, children and adults to adopt healthy eating and lifestyle behaviors to protect the liver. There is also a dire need to provide relevant information and educational tools.
Unfortunately, the fact that for decades there has been no information about the liver in schools that explains why and how to protect the internal organisms that produce and support liver cells is a sign of how hepatitis viruses destroy liver cells. Ignorance about how to attack and destroy is at the root of the current tragic consequences. It performs many miracles that create and sustain hundreds of vitally important life forms that support the parts and functions of our bodies that we often take for granted.
This ongoing problem, in addition to other potentially preventable liver-related diseases, urgently requires an effective national liver education campaign.
The Liver Health Initiative website offers a variety of age-appropriate educational tools to support efforts to eliminate viral hepatitis.