Click On The Links And Sign Your Name To Save Lives
I have been active in the current UK government Hepatitis C Awareness campaign since it was launched in December 2004 by Sir Liam Donaldson Chief Medical Officer for England. I was present at the launch, gave a TV interview, had my portrait done by Michele Martinoli for the Out of the Shadows Exhibition and attended several of the road-show Exhibitions. This weblog is featured on the NHS Hepatitis C Awareness website as is my portrait.
I got involved because I believed there are a lot of people who don’t know they have the Hepatitis C virus. Like me they could have been living for decades without knowing they have it. And when I was diagnosed I couldn’t find out enough about what it’s like to live with HepC and to go through treatment. I got involved because I wanted to change that.
The people I know at the communications company that handle the Hepatitis C Awareness campaign for the government work hard on their campaign ideas. They have always struck me as committed and have been friendly and helpful to me. Over time I know they have learned a lot about HepC too. I believe they do their best – within the brief they have been given.
Within the brief they have been given. Like others, I have felt for some time now that the brief is not right. The government aren’t committing enough to the campaign to make it really effective. We’ve seen the examples of massive expenditure on campaigns to alert the public that TV is going digital and to cut back on salt intake. The sums committed to HepC Awareness are pitiful by comparison. I’m committed, the staff working on the campaign are committed but we need to hear the government being more committed.
So I’m supporting the Hepatitis C Trust’s initiative in making an e-petition on the 10 Downing Street website. Samanatha May from the Hepatitis C Trust wrote to me about it.
Please would you take the time to sign in and please forward/publicise this link to anyone you know who would be willing to support it. The more signatures we gain the better and the whole process takes less than a minute – just click on the link.
http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/HepatitisC/
“We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to accept that the current public hepatitis C awareness campaign is not working and that the rate of diagnosis is nowhere near enough to prevent thousands of avoidable deaths. We further petition the Prime Minister to make it a government priority to do far more to diagnose the hundreds of thousands people in the UK who still do not realise that they are infected with this potentially life-threatening disease and then provide dedicated funding for their care and treatment”.
Your support in this would be much appreciated.
(You must be a British citizen or resident to sign the petition.)
I also want to support another initiative which Sam also wrote about:
Secondly, we have been contacted by Hepasist, a Bulgarian patient association who have asked for our support in signing a petition for them.
There are approximately 250,000 -350,000 hepatitis sufferers in Bulgaria. However, the disease is far from being addressed as a major public health issue and treatment is not being offered to patients. There is a huge waiting list (many patients have been waiting to get the treatment for more than 1.5 years) but nothing seems to be happening.Hepasist, the only Bulgarian organisation devoted to hepatitis C, has practically exhausted all their means to try to negotiate with their health authorities.
In order to support their fight, it has now launched a national online campaign which aims to collect votes from people all over Europe. Through this initiative they hope to grab their government’s attention.
Hepasist truly believes that if enough pressure is built up (especially if this pressure is coming from abroad), their health authorities will eventually have to start taking action against the disease and patients will finally be offered treatment. With that in mind, we kindly ask for your help. The voting process is extremely easy and takes less than 30 seconds. All you need to do is to click on the link and fill in your details (name/email and occupation)
http://www.hepasist.com/vote/index.php
By extending your support to the Bulgarians you will be ultimately saving lives.
So please take the time to click on the links and sign your name to save lives.