World Hepatitis Day - History
A little history to WHAD from a UK perspective...
2001-2003 - First National Hepatitis C Awareness Day ( England only)
Mainliners Hepatitis C Resource Centre initiated the first national ( England wide) hepatitis C awareness day in the UK, funded by the Department of Health ( England). This built on previous regional awareness days run by the Eddystone Tryst in Plymouth.
We worked hard to promote this and over time, the 1 st July was established as an annual hepatitis C awareness day in England in partnership with leading voluntary sector organisations in this field including the British Liver Trust, the Eddystone Trust, the Hepatitis C Trust and the Haemophilia Society between 2001-2003.
2004 - First UK Hepatitis C Awareness Day ( UK Wide)
In 2004, the UK Hepatitis C Resource Centre was formed when Mainliners amalgamated its Scottish and English Centre’s. This naturally lead us to expand our awareness activities, launching the first UK wide Hepatitis C Awareness Day and the first ever UK wide Hepatitis C Awareness Campaign on the 1 st July 2004. Parliamentary events were held in Scotland and England supported by the respective Departments of Health. A programme of activities, events and workshops on hepatitis C then followed across the UK.
Up until this point the 1 st July was still awareness day in the UK.
During 2004, the International HCV Patient Advocacy Group was formed sponsored by Roche Pharmaceuticals International and coordinated by Axon Communications. The group is comprised of national voluntary hepatitis and liver agencies, typically two agencies per country. This collaborative group agreed to focus on raising awareness. Firstly, by establishing an International Hepatitis C Awareness Day and secondly by seeking official recognition for this from the World Health Organisation (WHO). In time, the 1 st Oct was agreed as an annual date by the group.
The Resource Centre sought agreement with leading UK stakeholders and the Departments of Health to migrate to migrate to the 1 st Oct as a hepatitis C awareness day which was agreed unanimously. Migration to the 1 st Oct was successful in the UK and most of the countries involved have also been able to do so. By the end of 2004, the 1 st July was therefore dropped as an awareness day in the UK. Everyone involved began to promote the 1 st Oct as an International Hepatitis C Awareness Day and have been doing so ever since. At the same time, the majority of the international organisations began to cofound the European Liver Patients Association (ELPA) which is gradually superseding the International HCV Patient Advocacy Group.
2005 - First International Hepatitis C Awareness Day ( Europe predominately)
In April 2005, Mainliners was invited to a consultation arranged by the WHO, following on from previous interactions as a result of our International Hepatitis C Conference Series 1 through to 8 and our HIV projects which have been running for almost 18 years.
The Resource Centre then hosted a meeting with the same WHO Europe colleagues in London to discuss our International Hepatitis C Conference series, the International Hepatitis C Awareness Day and other areas of common interest. This led to introductions between WHO Europe and the International HCV Patient Advocacy Group to pursue WHO recognition and subsequently with ELPA.
The 1 st Oct 205 was particularly effective as the second International Hepatitis C Awareness Day with a lot of media coverage in the UK surrounding two high profile reports:
“ The Liver Report – Liver Disease in Europe and the Mediterranean Basin”, ELPA (2005)
‘The Hepatitis C Scandal’, All Party Parliamentary Group on Hepatology and the Hepatitis C Trust (2005)
2006 – First World Hepatitis Awareness Day
WHO Europe agreed to officially support the first World Hepatitis Awareness Day on the 1 st Oct to acknowledge hepatitis B and C as world concerns. Sir Bob Geldof also agreed to support the day and to participate via a video release. The first World Hepatitis Day was therefore n launched on the 26 th Sept in Copenhagen. and we were delighted to participate by speaking briefly on stigma, discrimination and coinfection.
ELPA and the WHO published their European Mapping Exercise on Hepatitis B and C to much interest and good coverage. The FaceIt Campaign held a series of events in London. The Centre held its parliamentary event this year in Scotland to coincide with the launch of the Hepatitis C Action Plan in Scotland and launched a series of UK resources and tools.
2007 What next ….
Support from the European section of the WHO has been a huge step for us all after trying to secure some form of recognition over the last 2 years. It is hoped that the support of WHO Europe in 2006 will be a stepping stone to WHO International recognition for the 1 st Oct 2007. This would mean the WHO take ownership of the 1 st Oct as World Hepatitis Awareness Day (WHAD), as they are for World AIDS day, and take over the running of this. It would then be the WHO setting the theme, taking the lead in promotions and materials each year to recognise WHAD.
For further details
We recommend you look over the following sites for further details on WHAD:
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