APASL 2019 - Towards Elimination of Viral Hepatitis by 2030: From the Clinic to Community


CEVHAP, in partnership with the Asia Pacific Association for the Study of the Liver (APASL), the Hepatology Association of the Philippines and the Yellow Warriors, held a public health forum as part of the APASL meeting in Manila. Using a public health framework, the Forum covered four key topics:

1. Addressing critical barriers in viral hepatitis – Stigma and Discrimination
2. From prevention to access to testing and linking to care
3. Towards an Effective Cascade of linkage to care – treatment and follow-up: Innovations and best practices
4. Where do we go from here? Opportunities and Future Directions – Hard Chat Roundtable.

In addition to generating health discourse at the event CEVHAP successfully spread awareness beyond APASL by inviting local and regional media to attend. Multiple interviews resulted in ten articles around the key topics of the public health forum and increased traffic on social media.

WHD 2018 – Situational Analysis in Indonesia


The policy report entitled “Situational Analysis in Indonesia” was announced during the 11^th Annual World Hepatitis Day and written on behalf of CEVHAP by Jonathan Scrutton, Dr Jack Wallace, and Dr Suzanne Wait. The report offers analysis of the hepatitis situation in Indonesia, where over 21 million people are infected with viral hepatitis. It concludes that eliminating the virus in Indonesia by 2030 is achievable through concerted action and highlights gaps in preventive care, testing and community engagement that need to be addressed.

CEVHAP also produced an executive summary and fact sheet to accompany the report and ensure easy consumption, thus maximising awareness. Additionally, CEVHAP member Jack Wallace was interviewed by BBC Newsday for a three-minute segment on the report detailing the findings and resulting opportunities for improvement as well as why viral hepatitis is such a big public health concern in APAC. He also published a by-line in Asia-Pacific Biotech News.

You may download the full report here.

APASL 2017 – NGO Joint Forum


For the first time, at Asia’s largest clinical conference on liver diseases, a NGO Joint Forum was held to build collaboration in support of national hepatitis policymaking and service delivery. The Forum, convened jointly by the Asian Pacific Association for Study of the Liver (APASL), the Coalition to Eradicate Viral Hepatitis in Asia Pacific (CEVHAP), the World Hepatitis Alliance, and the Chinese Foundation for Hepatitis Prevention and Control, was held in Shanghai, China on the first day of the annual conference of APASL.

Conclusions drawn at the Joint Forum and a Joint Statement on Regional NGO Collaboration were presented in a seminar at the APASL conference. The session, Viral Hepatitis Elimination Through Partnerships: Towards a World with NOhep, was livestreamed on social media in addition to being covered by SciDevNet.

To learn more please click here for the press release.

Asia Pacific Hepatitis Policy 2016 Survey


In 2016, CEVHAP commissioned the Chinese University of Hong Kong to develop the Asia Pacific Hepatitis Policy 2016 Survey which included primary research and expert interviews in each of the 15 countries assessed.

The early results from the Survey were announced on World Hepatitis Day in 2016. These results were limited to the fact that 100% of the 15 countries assessed had national working groups to tackle the disease and 66% of countries assessed have or are in the process of adopting national plans to eliminate viral hepatitis.

The complete results, supplemented by the development of a fact sheet and Q&A document, were launched at a press conference in Hong Kong on 14 June 2017. The event was well attended by both regional and local media across print and broadcast. CEVHAP’s efforts resulted in 50+ articles across Asia Pacific, including a commentary by Jack Wallace in Thomson Reuters Foundation, and provided the required leverage for members to advocate their governments.

To learn more please click here for the press release.

APASL 2016 – Policy Symposium


In Feb 2016 a Policy Symposium organised by the Coalition to Eradicate Viral Hepatitis in Asia Pacific (CEVHAP) called upon governments to endorse the draft World Health Organization Global Health Sector Strategy on Viral Hepatitis (the WHO GHSSVH). The symposium sought to answer the following key questions:

1. How can the SDGs benefit people living with viral hepatitis in Asia Pacific?
2. What opportunities will the SDGs provide and how can we make the most of these opportunities?
3. What role can APASL delegates play as advocates for hepatitis policy within the new context of the SDGs?

In addition to distributing a press release and arranging media interviews CEVHAP’s advocacy efforts also involved members sending letters to ministers and publishing a commentary by Stephen Locarnini in The Lancet.

To learn more please click here for the press release.