Bills

ACR 84: Hepatitis Awareness Month and Hepatitis Testing Day.

Session Year: 2017-2018
House: Assembly
Latest Version Date: 2017-06-06

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This measure would proclaim the month of May 2017 as Hepatitis Awareness Month and May 19, 2017, as Hepatitis Testing Day.

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WHEREAS, Liver cancer and liver disease related to hepatitis B and C are two of the leading killers in California; and

WHEREAS, Hepatitis C is the most prevalent bloodborne disease in the United States and in California; and

WHEREAS, Early detection of hepatitis B and C infections promotes effective management or treatment of these infections, preventing disability, loss of productivity and income, and allowing people to live full, satisfying, and productive lives; and

WHEREAS, An undetected and untreated hepatitis B or C infection can lead to disability or death; and

WHEREAS, The majority of the estimated 750,000 Californians with chronic hepatitis C infection do not know they are infected, and are therefore at high risk of severe liver disease, liver cancer, or liver failure; and

WHEREAS, The majority of the estimated 350,000 California residents with hepatitis B infection do not know they are infected, and are therefore at high risk of severe liver disease, liver cancer, or liver failure; and

WHEREAS, Untreated hepatitis B and C infections are the leading causes of liver failure requiring liver transplant; and

WHEREAS, While deaths from other notifiable infectious diseases have steadily declined over the past decade, deaths from hepatitis C in the United States continue to rise, and the hepatitis C-related death toll now exceeds all other nationally notifiable infectious conditions combined; and

WHEREAS, Each year, hepatitis B and C cause nearly 1.5 million deaths worldwidemore than HIV, tuberculosis, and malaria; and

WHEREAS, On March 28, 2017, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine released A National Strategy for the Elimination of Hepatitis B and C: Phase Two Report outlining how the United States can save 90,000 lives and eliminate hepatitis B and C by 2030; and

WHEREAS, The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released updated guidelines calling for baby boomerseveryone born between 1945 and 1965to receive a one-time hepatitis C test, which would save over 100,000 lives; and

WHEREAS, In 2013, the United States Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) issued a Grade B rating for screening for hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection in persons at high risk for infection and adults born between 1945 and 1965; and

WHEREAS, Baby boomers make up 30 percent of Californias adult population, and African American baby boomers are twice as likely to have hepatitis C as other baby boomers; and

WHEREAS, In 2009, the USPSTF issued a Grade A rating for screening pregnant women for the hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection during their first prenatal visit; and

WHEREAS, In 2014, the USPSTF issued a Grade B rating for screening people born in countries where hepatitis B is common, United States-born people who were not vaccinated against hepatitis B when they were babies and whose parents come from countries where hepatitis B is common, and other people at risk for hepatitis B; and

WHEREAS, There is a vaccine for the prevention of hepatitis Bthe first proven, low-cost vaccination against any form of cancer made available to Americans; and

WHEREAS, Hepatitis B is most prevalent among people of Asian and Pacific Islander descent, and one-third of Americans of Asian and Pacific Islander descent live in California; and

WHEREAS, Hepatitis B-related and hepatitis C-related hospitalization charges totaled $2.3 billion in 2010 in California, mostly paid for by tax-supported public health insurers; and

WHEREAS, New medications can cure hepatitis C in over 90 percent of people who are linked to and retained in care and treatment; and

WHEREAS, Hepatitis B can be treated effectively with proper medical management and may be curable in the near future; and

WHEREAS, The Legislature will continue to work to increase the affordability of, and access to, care, treatment, and cures for hepatitis; and

WHEREAS, Hepatitis awareness education campaigns and accessible screening for hepatitis B and C, along with appropriate treatment, can reduce the damage from hepatitis B and C viral infection to individuals and to our community, financially, as well as physically and emotionally; now, therefore, be it

Resolved by the Assembly of the State of California, the Senate thereof concurring, That the Legislature hereby proclaims May 2017 as Hepatitis Awareness Month and May 19, 2017, as Hepatitis Testing Day; and be it further

Resolved, That the Chief Clerk of the Assembly transmit copies of this resolution to the author for appropriate distribution.