San Francisco Hep B Free is a citywide campaign to turn San Francisco into the first hepatitis B free city in the nation. This unprecedented 2-year-long campaign beginning April 2007 will screen, vaccinate, and treat all San Francisco Asian and Pacific Islander (API) residents of hepatitis B by providing convenient, free or low-cost testing opportunities at partnering health facilities and events.

API’s have the highest risk of hepatitis B of any ethnic group. San Francisco’s API residents comprise 34% of the city’s population and bear a disproportionate burden of liver cancer

Hepatocellular carcinoma

Hepatocellular carcinoma is the most common type of liver cancer. Most cases of HCC are secondary to either a viral hepatitide infection or cirrhosis .Compared to other cancers, HCC is quite a rare tumor in the United States...

 and undetected hepatitis B infection. Hepatitis B is a serious disease responsible for 80% of all liver cancers among APIs. San Francisco has the highest liver cancer rate in the nation. It is estimated that one in ten people in the API community have 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.

The San Francisco Hep B Free campaign puts San Francisco at the forefront of America in fighting chronic hepatitis. It will be the largest, most intensive healthcare campaign for Asian and Pacific Islanders in the U.S. This initiative has received national attention and is being looked to as a model by the California

California

California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

 legislature. Mayor Gavin Newsom, Assemblywoman Fiona Ma

Fiona Ma

Fiona Ma is the Speaker pro Tempore California State Assembly and a San Francisco politician, and a former member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors.-Personal life:...

 and Supervisor Ed Jew

Ed Jew

Edmund "Ed" Jew is an incarcerated former Chinese American politician based in San Francisco. He graduated from San Francisco State University with a degree in economics and later earned a masters degree in business administration at Golden Gate University...

 are leading the effort with more than 50 healthcare and Asian Pacific Islander (API) organizations. The San Francisco Board of Supervisors

San Francisco Board of Supervisors

The San Francisco Board of Supervisors is the legislative body within the government of the City and County of San Francisco, California, United States.-Government and politics:...

 and San Francisco Health Commission have passed unanimous resolutions supporting San Francisco Hep B Free.

The San Francisco Hep B Free Steering Committee is made up of the San Francisco Department of Public Health, Asian Liver Center at Stanford University

Stanford University

The Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is a private research university on an campus located near Palo Alto, California. It is situated in the northwestern Santa Clara Valley on the San Francisco Peninsula, approximately northwest of San...

, and AsianWeek Foundation. Assemblywoman Ma serves as Honorary Chairperson.

External links

• San Francisco Hep B Free official site
• Asian Liver Center at Stanford University
• Asian Week Foundation
• San Francisco Department of Public Health
• CDC fact sheet on Hepatitis B
• Know HBV Brochure on Hepatitis B