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The Champion Professional: Issue 62
This issue:
- NSW Hepatitis C Report Card shows progress in treatment
- Hep B Digital Storytelling Project a huge success at WSU
- Korean Women’s Night – B together B healthy B beautiful
Also:
- Mental Health Hep C resource from Hepatitis Australia
- New overview of Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander health
NSW Hepatitis C Report Card shows progress in treatment
In new data from NSW Health, NSW has now treated 26% (21,346) of people estimated to be living with hepatitis C and access to treatment in general practice continues to increase. From July 2017 to December 2017, over 3,600 people initiated hepatitis C treatment in NSW, including almost 500 people in Justice Health settings.
Hepatitis NSW is encouraged by the innovative models introduced by local health districts (LHDs) to increase access to hepatitis C treatment.
Increased efforts are being made at the state and district levels to increase treatment uptake. State-wide strategies include a joint workplan with Hepatitis NSW and NUAA to increase access to peer support for treatment; scaling up the NSW HIV and hepatitis C dried blood spot pilot in alcohol and other drugs settings; education and communication through the Royal Australasian College of General Practitioners, the Hepatitis in Prisons Elimination (HIPE) Program in prisons and a communication strategy through Hepatitis NSW, in partnership with NUAA, and the Multicultural HIV and Hepatitis Service.
LHDs are implementing locally tailored strategies to increase testing and treatment with a focus on people who inject drugs in priority settings including NSPs, AOD, Aboriginal Community Controlled health services and in general practice.
Hep B Digital Storytelling Project a huge success at WSU
At Hepatitis NSW, we are always thinking of innovative ways to work with the community. This year, our thirst for exploring new paths led us to create the Digital Storytelling Project, our first collaboration with Western Sydney University.
With help from university lecturers, Hepatitis NSW co-designed a unique filmmaking course specifically focused on hep B. Over six weeks, 16 students took part in the course to create their own hep B awareness videos.
At the end of the course, it was obvious that the students had gained a lot from taking part in the project. All submitted videos were of excellent quality and discussed hep B in a thought provoking manner. It was great to observe the diversity of the final products too – some students chose to approach hep B in a light-hearted and comical manner, whilst others took a more serious perspective.
We thoroughly enjoyed working with Western Sydney University, and look forward to our next joint project.
Are you interested in watching the students’ videos, and learning a little bit more about hep B? Keep an eye out for our next issue, where we will share the link with you!
Korean Women’s Night – B together B healthy B beautiful
A free women’s only event presented by Hepatitis NSW – in partnership with many other organisations and agencies – was held in Strathfield in early June. It was an opportunity for participants to enjoy performances and artwork by Korean women artists, and to learn important women’s health information about breast screening and also about hepatitis B.
The evening was a great success with more than 160 women attending. Our speaker Sofia Jung shared her personal story and the Hep B Story video from Hepatitis Queensland was screened with Korean subtitles. Show bags filled with hep B information were handed out to everyone.
Renee Moreton, Senior Manager of Population Health Sydney Local Health District, gave the welcome speech on the night, and the audience enjoyed performances from Chromaharp and the Good Friend’s Choir. The evening provided another great opportunity for Hepatitis NSW to reach out to the Korean community with important health information.
