Anne Im knows the fatal effects of hepatitis B, having lost her grandfather to liver cancer from the disease. Now actively involved in the nonprofit Asians Americans for Community Involvement, she hopes to help educate and prevent others from enduring the same fate, particularly those in Santa Clara County.
Her organization has recently partnered with the Asian Liver Center at Stanford University and the California Department of Public Health to create the Santa Clara Hep B Free campaign — modeled after San Francisco’s campaign to provide everyone in the county with free hepatitis B screenings and low-cost vaccinations, regardless of health insurance status.
Beginning March 1, the Asian Liver Center and Dept. of Public Health will hold screenings and vaccinations every first and third Saturday from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Asians Americans for Community Involvement, located at 2400 Moorpark Ave., Suite 111, in San Jose.
Vaccinations will be provided for patients that present valid HBsAg (hepatitis B surface antigen) and HBsAb (hepatitis B “e” antigen) test results obtained either from a Santa Clara Hep B Free screening event or from a doctor.
“Given the success of the S.F. Hep B Free campaign, we wanted to replicate the same model in Santa Clara County, which has over half a million API residents who comprise 30 percent of the county’s population,” said Meredith Bergin, special projects coordinator for the Asian Liver Center.
The county has one of the highest rates of babies born to hepatitis B-positive mothers in the United States; an estimated one in 10 Asians and Pacific Islanders — potentially over 50,000 residents in Santa Clara County — may be chronically infected with hepatitis B and unaware of their infection.
For information about Santa Clara’s Hep B Free screenings and vaccinations, visit aaci.org. To learn about the S.F. Hep B Free campaign, visit sfhepbfree.org or contact Thanh Huynh, administrative coordinator, at thuynh@awfoundation.com.