Current Hepatitis B Programs

Don’t Let Hep B Win Campaign

Our Don’t Let Hep B Win Campaign is a community health-driven initiative that engages foreign-born community members in Illinois from countries in Asia and Africa with high endemic rates of hepatitis B. Our team implements hepatitis education, outreach, and linkage to care targeting foreign-born Asians and Africans in Illinois through the Don’t Let Hepatitis B Win Campaign. We create education and outreach materials that are available in over 18 languages. We provide culturally and linguistically appropriate health education on viral hepatitis prevention, screening of target populations at-risk, immunization for those found to be susceptible to hepatitis B, and linkage to care for those who live with chronic hepatitis B. For this program, we disseminate existent materials from the Center of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) “Know Hepatitis B Campaign” and other trusted materials that encourages families to seek testing and appropriate follow-up from their primary care providers.  Our engagement efforts include outreach to increase community awareness of hepatitis B, education to increase knowledge of hepatitis B risks and preventative behaviors and increasing screening rates by supporting the community to get screened and vaccinated for hepatitis B with referrals. Since 2013, the Don’t Let Hep B Win Campaign has reached over 100,000 individuals and provided 5,307 hepatitis B screenings. Funding for this program is supported through a grant from the Illinois Department of Public Health.

Illinois Expansion through Local Health Departments

In 2019, the Hepatitis B Education and Prevention Program (HEPP) expanded our program outside of Chicagoland to all of Illinois through the use of local health departments (LHDs). Especially in rural areas, health departments are often the “one stop shop” for health information, resources, and services. We identified areas in Illinois that have Asian and African populations, and worked with the LHDs to build their capacity in conducting hepatitis B outreach and awareness. Through this collaboration, we are providing culturally and linguistically tailored materials that are distributed to the community through flyers, posters, media campaigns, radio ads, and PSAs. 

Persons Who Use Drugs (PWID) Expansion

The Hepatitis B Education and Prevention Program (HEPP) was expanded with a grant from Hepatitis B Foundation to reach the persons who use drugs (PWUD) population in the Chicagoland area and by local health departments in Illinois. The main goal is to disseminate appropriate, nonjudgmental outreach and educational materials specific to PWUD that will increase preventative behaviors, numbers of individuals who know their hepatitis B status, and motivation to get vaccinated.