CDC Letter – May is Hepatitis Awareness Month

Note: Since hepatitis B and hepatitis C are common coinfections among people living with HIV and many partners across the country work to address both HIV and viral hepatitis, we are sharing this Dear Partner message from colleagues at the CDC’s Division of Viral Hepatitis about Hepatitis Awareness Month and Hepatitis Testing Day.

Dear Partner,

It’s May! That means it’s Hepatitis Awareness Month, and the ninth annual Hepatitis Testing Day on May 19 is just around the corner. We know many of you have been working hard to respond to COVID-19 in your communities and are aware that the pandemic has brought many challenges impacting your activities and services. Still, we wanted to provide some resources you might find useful and some ideas of how you can continue to promote awareness of hepatitis in May and beyond.

Hepatitis Awareness Month Resources

CDC’s Hepatitis Awareness Month homepage summarizes the ABCs of Viral Hepatitis. Each week of May will feature new content about hepatitis A, B, and C.

The Hepatitis Awareness Month Resource Center has free tools to help support your awareness activities and testing events. Resources include a suite of new digital buttons and badges for your website or email signatures; live-read radio scripts to pitch your events to local radio stations; and sample proclamations for Hepatitis Awareness Month and/or national Hepatitis Testing Day.

Sample social media content and graphics are also available for Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook to help spread the word about Hepatitis Awareness Month through your channels.

Promote Testing and Vaccination Services

Register any ongoing hepatitis testing and vaccination services by filling out an online form at https://gettested.cdc.gov/. People can enter their ZIP code to find vital resources in their area.

Encourage people to take CDC’s adult vaccine assessment tool to get personalized vaccination recommendations, including hepatitis A and B vaccines. The tool, designed for adults 19 years and older, provides vaccine recommendations based on age, health conditions, jobs, and other factors.

Other Viral Hepatitis Resources

To support and help implement the new hepatitis C testing recommendations, CDC updated the Know More Hepatitis campaign with new materials and resources designed to encourage all adults to get tested.

Free resources are available in a variety of Asian and African languages from the Know Hepatitis B campaign, which encourages hepatitis B testing among Asian Americans and African immigrant communities.

CDC has resources to address the widespread outbreaks of hepatitis A that are occurring across the United States. Find information about the outbreaks and resources to support the outbreak response.

Check out and share CDC grantee University of Washington’s Hepatitis B OnlineExit Disclaimer and Hepatitis CExit Disclaimer Online,Exit Disclaimer where clinicians can find guidance for screening, diagnosing, monitoring, and managing patients with hepatitis B and hepatitis C, all while earning free CE.

CDC’s viral hepatitis website has information and resources on all types of hepatitis, including fact sheets, posters, provider resources, and much more.

Stay Connected

Join the #HepChat20 on Hepatitis Testing Day, May 19th at 2 PM EDT. During the Twitter chat, featured partners will represent harm reduction organizations, national and local coalitions, health departments, patient and provider perspectives, and more. Topics will address the importance of testing and linkage to care, efforts around elimination, combating stigma and discrimination, and the importance of engaging community partners, patients, and others in testing and elimination efforts.

Follow @cdchepExit Disclaimer on Twitter for information about hepatitis resources, tools, publications, campaign updates, and events. Use the hashtags #HepAware2020, #hepatitis, and #HepTestingDay to join the conversation and share information, pictures, and videos of activities and events.

Sign up for monthly emails from CDC’s viral hepatitis program about new publications, recommendations, new materials, or significant events.

If you have any questions or suggestions, please reach out to Amanda Carnes at ccarnes@cdc.gov. We look forward to continuing to work with you in your efforts to combat viral hepatitis.

Education, Training and Communication Team
Division of Viral Hepatitis
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention