Hepatitis B&C CME Training Program and Treatment Update, Sacramento, CA
October 20, 2018 - Sacramento CA USScripps Health
med.edu@scrippshealth.org
Phone:858-678-6400
Viral hepatitis is the seventh leading cause of death in the world, killing more people than traffic injuries, HIV and AIDS, or diabetes. Every year chronic viral hepatitis, of which hepatitis B and C are the most common forms, kills a million people, roughly 20,000 of them in the United States. These deaths could be prevented. Hepatitis B vaccine conveys 95 percent immunity, and new therapies for hepatitis C cure the vast majority of patients. A report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, released in April, 2016 concluded that both hepatitis B and C could be rare diseases in the United States, and a report from the World Health Organization has targeted elimination of chronic viral hepatitis for most of the world by 2030. Yet many remain in the US with screening, diagnosing and treating both hepatitis B and C. Those that bear a direct relationship to public policy include training physicians to manage hepatitis B and increasing access to treatment and raising awareness of chronic hepatitis C.The lack of awareness about the prevalence of chronic viral hepatitis in the United States and about the proper methods and target populations for screening and medical management of chronic hepatitis B and hepatitis C contributes to continuing transmission; missing of opportunities for prevention, including vaccination; missing of opportunities for early diagnosis and medical care; and poor health outcomes in infected people.