It Does Make Me Cross!
It does make me cross - the simultaneous presentation of Hepatitis C and injecting drugs. The media and the government make reference to both together. Lumping us all together and stigmatising all of us.
I know that HepC was originally identified in this country through injecting drug use, and that the government’s initial response was to put funds into drug projects to work with this epidemic. I know because I had to go to a Drug Project as a client to access the services of a support group. A number of my fellow group members have been injecting drug users. I don’t feel judgemental about their previous activities nor do I feel any superiority over them.
But I do feel that the current presentation of HepC and drugs simultaneously invites/suggests/affirms/corroborates the notion that HepC=injecting drugs and that those who have HepC have only themselves to blame because they chose to inject drugs. I don’t feel any of us should be blamed for having HepC whether we have been injecting drug users or not.
It does remind me of the early days of HIV when it was seen as a gay plague visited on homosexuals as retribution. Nowadays, the profile of people who are HIV+ is recognised as very different to the early days and there is not the same assumption that people deserve their illness.
I think the media and the government need to be responsible in their approach on this issue and anticipate that the profile of HepC+ people is changing already and doesn’t just comprise the injecting drug users they are focusing on. In his presentation, Sir Liam Donaldson made reference to there being a group of mid-life professionals who may be undiagnosed with HepC. I think he is right. However I thought it was unfortunate that he illustrated his reference to this group by using an image from the rock festival Woodstock and saying there may be people who experimented with drugs in their youth, become infected and still not realise. Again the reference to drugs.
Sure HepC was first noticed here in the drug injecting population but are we also noticing the number of people infected through blood products, mass injected medical treatments and immunisations using glass syringes, dental practices, needle-stick injuries to health care professionals? Are we going to continue to infer that these people too are responsible for catching HepC? And the people who have been infected through shared toothbrushes, razors, tattoo needles and all the other identified risk factors?
I suppose it could be argued this is where we need to start from and my views are somewhat ahead of where we are. But I don’t think I can stop hoping for a more balanced approach to Hepatitis C coverage.
It does happen. I noticed a breaking story today from “The Peninsula Qatar’s leading English daily” stating that 2.8% of their population is HepC+ (compared to .5% of the population in England). No mention of drugs or implication that those infected are to blame.
A more balanced approach in this country could encourage those who have been infected by ”risk factors’ other than injecting drugs to come forward. That is what the government says it wants - while continuously and simultaneously refering to Hepatitis C and drug taking in the same breath.
I suspect there are a lot of people who are ‘in denial’ about being HepC+ but I can understand this to some extent. It isn’t easy to admit to having a disease associated with the stigma and judgement that your illness is self-inflicted and deserved. It isn’t easy to take the risks with your career, your family’s social relationships, your children being discriminated against at school, your insurance questionnaires, your mortgage application, your application to professional organisations, etc.
The current climate does not make it easy for that undisclosed sector of society to come forward. So far, it has been estimated there are between 200,000 and 500,000 people in the UK who are HepC+ and undiagnosed. I suppose we could see these statistics change if infections from the other ‘risk factors’ are increasingly and more openly identified. And if we stop stigmatising those who are HepC+.