November / December 2018 Newsletter

​Be A Hero Award
San Francisco Hep B Free - Bay Area celebrated its 11th Annual Be A Hero Awards Gala & Fundraiser, themed Together We Can on October 19. Our own Board Chair, Rose Chung, was one of four awardees to receive the Be A Hero Award (and superhero cape). The Gala was held at The InterContinental San Francisco. Rose used Facebook Fundraisers to appeal to her network and receive donations for this cause.

Rose donning her superhero cape. (Photo by Frank Jang)

San Francisco has the highest liver cancer rate in the nation. It is estimated that one in ten people in the Asian and Pacific Islander (API) community has an undiagnosed infection. APIs are up to 100 times more likely to suffer from chronic hepatitis B infection and four times more likely to die from liver cancer compared with the general population. It is called the "silent killer" because a significant portion of patients who are chronically infected with hepatitis B are unaware of their illness which will progress and cause major health problems such as liver failure and liver cancer. While there is no cure for hepatitis B, there is a vaccine that prevents infection.

SF Hep B Free - Bay Area is a citywide campaign to turn San Francisco into the first hepatitis B free city in the nation. This unprecedented campaign will provide free and low-cost hepatitis B testing and vaccinations to API adults at locations throughout San Francisco.