A Report of the California Adult Viral Hepatitis Prevention Coordinating Committee and State of California California Department of Public Health Center for Infectious Diseases December 2009
This is from the full report at www.cdph.ca.gov
Viral hepatitis is an important public health problem in California and nationwide. In the United States, there are more than 5 million people living with chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) or chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV). Viral hepatitis is a major cause of liver cancer and the leading cause of liver transplants nationwide.
From 2010 to 2030, the number of liver cancer cases in the U.S. is expected to rise 59 percent, with the highest increases expected among Hispanics and Asian American and Pacific Islanders. Over the next twenty years, annual medical costs for people with HCV nationwide are expected to increase more than 2.5 times, from $30 billion to more than $85 billion. While it is unknown exactly how many people in California are living with viral hepatitis, in 2007 alone, HBV- and HCV-related hospitalization costs in California totaled $2 billion.
In the spring of 2008, the California Department of Public Health (CDPH), Center for Infectious Diseases (CID), Division of Communicable Disease Control (DCDC), Sexually Transmitted Diseases (STD) Control Branch embarked upon a statewide strategic planning process for reducing the impact of viral hepatitis among adults in California. More than 80 representatives from a broad range of State agencies, local health departments, community-based organizations, and membership organizations came together to develop a framework for a coordinated, comprehensive approach to preventing the transmission of viral hepatitis and limiting the progression and complications of chronic hepatitis B
and C in California.
That framework outlined a practical vision and three strategic directions:
1) Improving Surveillance Capacity and Data Use;
2) Educating the Public,
Providers, and Policymakers; and
3) Targeting and Integrating Services and
Building Infrastructure, which were further refined and developed into this strategic plan. Within each strategic direction in this plan is a practical vision describing an optimal state of viral hepatitis prevention efforts in five years and a set of recommendations and action steps to guide a comprehensive effort to reduce the impact of viral hepatitis among adults in California. Those strategic directions, recommendations, and action steps are summarized in the report.
