Get #NOhep News delivered to your inbox
Join the NOhep movement and get #NOhep News delivered straight to your inbox!
NOhep News: May 2020
We hope you and your loved ones are staying safe during the COVID-19 pandemic.
To answer some of the most common questions people living with viral hepatitis have about COVID-19, some of our NOhep Medical Visionaries recently took part in a webinar to address concerns raised by the hepatitis community – read on to find out more and catch up with the event.
We also have a great Supporter Spotlight from a dedicated NOhep activist who has big plans for eliminating viral hepatitis in Cameroon, news about how babies may hold the key to improving hepatitis C treatment, information about how you can get involved with Hepatitis Awareness Month, and more.
If you’re interested in being featured as a NOhep Supporter Spotlight or have any updates or activities you’d like to share with the rest of the movement, please email connect@nohep.org. We’d love to hear from you!
Stay safe,
The NOhep Team
Supporter Spotlight: Davy Nkengeh
As Davy Nkengeh prepared to lead his first community-based project to mark World Hepatitis Day, he realised what a big problem viral hepatitis was in Cameroon. This discovery inspired him to set up ZEROHEP Cameroon, an organisation which aims to address viral hepatitis and let every Cameroonian know their hepatitis status by 2030. Read about his brilliant work here.
NOhep Community Activity
NOhep Medical Visionaries take part in COVID-19 webinar for people living with viral hepatitis
NOhep Medical Visionaries Dr Su Wang, Dr Kosh Agarwal and Dr Robert Gish recently took part in a webinar focussed on COVID-19 and what it means for people living with viral hepatitis. They discussed a range of topics and answered questions from civil society and people living with hepatitis. We’re sure you’ll find it useful!
Pakistan
NOhep supporter Tassawar Ali and his colleagues have been thinking outside the box and have come up with a very creative way to raise health awareness. They have created a version of Ludo, a popular board game, which helps raise awareness of good hand hygiene and ways to protect yourself from COVID-19! What a fun way to disseminate life-saving information – perhaps we can take inspiration for raising awareness of viral hepatitis?
Articles and stories
Nurse cured of hepatitis C reveals how living with the virus is helping her cope during the COVID-19 pandemic
A nurse who has been cured of hepatitis C has shared her top tips, learned through living with the virus, to help others cope during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Has living with hepatitis taught you lessons that you are using to help you through the COVID-19 pandemic? Let us know on social media using #NOhep.
USA marks Hepatitis Awareness Month
May is Hepatitis Awareness Month in the USA. Even if you are not based in the United States, you may find some of the materials and information on the Hepatitis Awareness Month website useful for raising awareness of hepatitis A, B and C and advocating for NOhep in your own country!
Infants may hold key to improving hepatitis C treatment
A new study carried out at the Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm, Sweden, indicates that many babies exposed to the hepatitis C virus in the womb may fight it off before birth. This could explain why the risk of a mother passing hepatitis C on to her unborn baby is low compared to other bloodborne viruses, including hepatitis B.
Researchers discovered adaptations to babies’ immune systems which indicate an ability to successfully fight off the virus. They are hopeful that their discovery could help improve treatment for hepatitis C.
Researcher Dr. Niklas Björkström said: “The immune system of the healthy babies shows similar changes to that in babies with hepatitis C. This could suggest that the immune cells have encountered the virus in the womb and managed to eliminate it before birth.”
What next?
NOhep News: April 2020
Catch up with last month’s NOhep News
NOhep Supporter Spotlights
Find out more about NOhep supporters from around the world