Events of Yi You Charity on 28 July, World Hepatitis Day 2016

28 July, 2016 is the sixth World Hepatitis Day established  by World Health Organization (WHO), the theme of which is "elimination."

The year 2016 is an essential year in fighting against viral hepatitis. During the World Health Assembly held in May, members of WHO passed the first strategy to eliminate viral hepatitis, setting various grand goals including the general goal of eliminating the threat of hepatitis to public health. This is the first time that the governments of different countries have signed a treaty to bring forward the goal of eliminating viral hepatitis.

There are more than one kind of hepatitis: Hepatitis A Virus, Hepatitis B Virus, Hepatitis C Virus, D Virus and E Virus, the five of which would cause five kinds of viral hepatitis respectively. Hepatitis holds hundreds of millions of people's life in danger. According to statistics released by WHO, acute or chronic hepatitis caused by hepatitis virus kill 1,450,000 people worldwide per year. Hepatitis B stands out as among the 240 million carriers around the world, Chinese Hepatitis B carriers account for almost seven percent of the whole nation's population with a number of ninety million, resulting in 330 thousand deaths of chronic Hepatitis B every year.

Upon the coming of World Hepatitis Day in 2016, Yi You Charity (the name of which means hundreds of millions of friends), a charity aimed to make hepatitis carriers help each other, vigorously responds to the call of WHO. All kinds of charity events are held by Yi You Charity and numerous volunteers caring about hepatitis problems to disseminate information about hepatitis, receiving a blaze of media attention and coverage.

Event One: Change your photo for WeChat account

"You know what? Every one out of ten of your friends in your WeChat contacts is a chronic hepatitis B or C carrier. On 28 July, the World Hepatitis Day, change your photo into "NOhep" and @your friends to tell them to do so. In this way you show your support for and acceptance of hepatitis carriers; besides, more people get to know about hepatitis."

Starting on 25 July, Yi You Charity launched the "Photo Changed, Liver Treasured" campaign using the above paragraph as promotional words and the NOhep picture as a promotional badge of the World Hepatitis Day, backed by organizations such as China Foundation for Hepatitis Prevention and Control (CFHPC), Beijing Ditan Hospital Capital Medical University, Lingshan Foundation, HBV Information Forum, Hepatitis Easily Diagnosed APP (Yi Zhen APP), New Citizens' Lives Forum and Inno Community Development Organization.

In the mean time, Yi You Charity utilizes online networking platforms like Yi You official website, Weibo, WeChat Official account, WeChat groups and WeChat Moments to appeal to the public to change their WeChat account photos on World Hepatitis Day. Positive responses and widespread support have been received. Members of the Yi You Charity WeChat group named "Home for all," who are hepatitis B carriers, have improved their acceptance of hepatitis B and of their own identity through the campaign.

change your photo poster

wechat users change their pofile

Event Two: Sending proposals to 101 cities to drive reimbursement for hepatitis B outpatients

On the noon of 27 Jul, staff and volunteers of the Yi You Charity sent letters of proposal, calling for the basic medical insurance reimbursement for chronic hepatitis B and cirrhosis, to 101 prefectural cities where there no reimbursement had been received for medical expenses, which raised media attention and coverage.

A survey conducted by Yi You Charity finds out that in seventy-four prefectural cities across the nation, medical insurance for employees have not covered chronic hepatitis B outpatients while in a hundred and forty-two prefectural cities, medical insurance for citizens have not. The situations are more severe in Hainan, Fujian, Henan and Guizhou provinces as regards the lack of medical insurance for chronic hepatitis B. Even in Haikou and Zhenzhou, the respective provincial capitals of Hainan and Henan provinces, hepatitis B carriers could not get reimbursement unless they are hospitalized, consequently, a large number of patients get medical treatment at their own expenses.

The government departments concerned in Tangshan City Hebei Province, Quanzhou City Fujian Province and Qiqihar City Heilongjiang Province all have  responded.

The media coverage is as follows:

The Paper: "On the Eve of World Hepatitis Day, Charity Calls for Medical Insurance Reimbursement for Hepatitis B Outpatients"http://dwz.cn/3RArlR

Global Times the English Edition: "WHO: Better Hepatitis Policies Could Save Millions of Chinese"  http://t.cn/RtV2ply

volunteer write to 101 government departments

the advice letters

Event Three: Cooperating with Southern Medical University Nanfang Hospital in "Hug Me" campaign

On World Hepatitis Day, Yi You Charity cooperated with Southern Medical University Nanfang Hospital to hold a voluntary diagnosis event "Act Now to Fight against Hepatitis B."

Yi You Charity staff and volunteerspopularized medical insurance reimbursement policy and employment policy for hepatitis B carriers. They also held signs appealing for a hug with hepatitis B carriers to propagate knowledge of hepatitis B, highly appreciated by citizens amid a great deal of publicity.

In 2014, tens of members of People's Congress of Guangzhou and Yi You Charity submitted proposals to the local Health Insurance Department in Guangzhou, calling for a rise in the medical insurance reimbursement for hepatitis B carriers to alleviate the financial burden on patients, the reimbursement quota raised from 150 yuan to 600 yuan for hepatitis B outpatients in Guangzhou. Many hepatitis B carriers know little about the medical insurance reimbursement procedures which are too complicated, therefore, plenty of patients miss the benefit they should have had.

During the event, staff of Yi You Charity patiently answered questions raised by hepatitis B carriers while handing out leaflets, which was praised by a number of hepatitis B carriers.

What's more, during the "Hug Me" campaign, staff and volunteers of Yi You Charity received support and hugs from citizens. Of course there were people who shunned us for a lack of knowledge of hepatitis B, which attached even more meaning to our "HugMe" campaign. We explained with great patience to citizens who knew little about hepatitis Byet were willing to stop and listen that hepatitis B would not be transmitted through handshakes, hugs or meals and that one can befriend a hepatitis Bcarrier without panic or discrimination.

We used the art of getting people to hug someone as a vehicle to attract both attention and mass media coverage, so that the information would spread more widely thus the right knowledge of hepatitis B reached the masses.

Media coverage of Yi You Charity's "Hug Me" campaign

Guangdong TV's live DV:"Hepatitis B Carriers Asking for a Hug on World Hepatitis Day"

website: http://t.cn/RtcsSMN

Guangdong TV Zhujiang Channel News 630: "Can you give me a hug on World Hepatitis Day 2016?"

website: http://t.cn/RtcslRZ

Guangdong Southern Satellite TVS, Urban Affairs: "Would you hug a hepatitis Bcarrier on World Hepatitis Day?"

http://t.cn/RtVPtNK

Guangzhou Daily: "Hepatitis B Medication is Getting Cheaper"http://dwz.cn/3RAagx

South China Daily: "No need to travel to another province to buy medication for hepatitis Banymore! Some hospitals in Guangdong have implemented new prices of tenofovir disoproxil carried out after the National Negotiation"

http://dwz.cn/3RAkdy

Hug me for anti-discrimination

Event Four: ChuangLei's charity work against hepatitis makes the lead story on WHO website

On 29 Jul, WHO official account reported the story of Chuang Lei, the initiator of Yi You Charity, fighting against hepatitis, with the title of "Tackling Stigma and Discrimination."

The initial intention of Chuang Lei's action was obtained when his elder brother got turned down by a companyfor being a hepatitis B carrier after the physical examination for new employees . Chuang was shocked, realizing he might face the same discrimination as his brother did. Fearful and at a loss, he realized he had to take actions as soon as he could to eliminate discrimination like this.

It has been nine years since Chuang, who at first aimed only to help himself,devoted himself to hepatitis B charity affairs.

The report mentions that Chuang's work focuses on mainly two areas. Firstly, Yi You Charity drives reimbursement for hepatitis B outpatients. According to a survey conducted by Yi YouCharity, among three hundred cities in China, around thirty percent of the hepatitis Bcarriers could only get reimbursement if they are hospitalized. Those who live their lives outside of the hospital with hepatitis Bhave no access to reimbursement simply because they are not hospitalized. Secondly, many companies still turn down hepatitis B carriers, moreover, an employee gets fired once he or she tests positive for hepatitis B surface antigen during the annual physical examinations. That's why we need to help hepatitis Bcarriers who are being discriminated or may be biased against gain equal rights.

Another main job of Yi You Charity is to communicate with communities and the public. Chuang Lei says, "We invite communities and volunteers to take part in our annual advocacy walk toBeijing and encourage hepatitis Bcarriers and volunteers to write letters of proposal to governmental branches, asking for decrease in hepatitis B medication prices. Meanwhile, we frequently organize training for hepatitis Bcarriers to help them better understand their rights and needs." The cooperation between government and non-governmental organizations is of great importance. Non-governmental organizations could work as a channel for revealing the real problems and needs of common people, so that people can be heard and seen. For instance, Chuang Lei's campaign eventually impelled the central authority to change policies on employment discrimination of hepatitis B carriers and prices of hepatitis B medication

However, there are more barriers at present. Chuang Lei thinks that more actions must be taken to empower hepatitis B community. Bias against hepatitis Bcarriers still exists in a large scale. "Should Ispeak for myself?" Hepatitis B carriers are hesitating.

"In China, very few non-governmental organizations initiated by hepatitis B carriers or aimed at tackling the needs of hepatitis B carriers can be found. More funds are needed to support the development of non-governmental organizations.

It's the goal of Yi You Charity to build an equal as well as harmonious society for hepatitis Bcarriers where every patient has access to medication. Our work has been approved by WHO but there's still a long way to go before completely eliminating discrimination against hepatitis Bcarriers. We'll try our best to keep working with conviction for hepatitis Bcarriers in China, hoping to remove wrong views towards hepatitis Band to influence government departments in China. Before realizing our grand goal of eliminating hepatitis in 2030, we wish every one of current hepatitis B carriers live in a world of happiness, kindness and equality.

Coverage on WHO official website, the English edition: 20160728World Hepatitis Day 2016-- Tackling Stigma and Discrimination

http://www.wpro.who.int/hepatitis/hepatitis_day/2016/Chuang_Lei/en/

Report on WHO website