The House Appropriation Subcommittee on Labor, HHS, Education and Related Agencies is currently deciding the funding amount for viral hepatitis prevention for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention at the Division of Viral Hepatitis (DVH) for Fiscal Year 2010.  This represents an opportunity for Congress to provide critical funding to address the hepatitis B and C epidemics facing our nation.  It is important that this number be as high as possible, as it is difficult to increase the funding amount in the full Appropriations Committee and when the bill is voted on.  Please contact your Representative and ask him or her to support a $31.7 million increase for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) Division of Viral Hepatitis (DVH) bringing it to a total of $50 million for FY2010. 

Please continue to help us fight for increased viral hepatitis funding by contacting your Representative and ask him or her to tell Chairman David Obey of the House Labor-HHS Subcommittee about the tremendous need for increased viral hepatitis funding.  Please take a few minutes to make these important phone calls!

How You Can Help:

The deadline to be able to weigh in for funding to the DVH for the FY2010 Labor-HHS Appropriations legislation is Friday, April 3 for the House Labor-HHS subcommittee. It is urgent that your calls be done this week. Please call your Representative’s Washington, DC office.  Ask to speak to the staff person who handles healthcare issues. Whether you speak to this person directly or leave a message, tell them:

“My name is                         and I’m a constituent of Representative                          .  I am calling to urge your office to weigh in with Chairman Obey of the Subcommittee on Labor, HHS, Education and Related Agencies to support increased funding for CDC’s Division of Viral Hepatitis by $31.7 million, bringing the total budget for the Division of Viral Hepatitis to $50 million.  Hepatitis B and C affects over 6 million Americans with roughly 4 million Americans chronically infected.  Chronic viral hepatitis is the leading cause of liver cancer, the top 10 killer of Americans every year, and the leading cause of liver transplants each year. Congress has historically cut or flat funded the Division of Viral Hepatitis.  Money for prevention of hepatitis B and C is critical to increase counseling, testing and referral in order to begin to get a handle on this potentially life-threatening and expensive disease.”

You can call your Representative toll-free at 202.225.3121. You will get the Capitol switchboard. Ask to be connected to your Representative’s office.

Thanks for taking the time to make these important phone calls!

Background

DVH only receives $18.3 million for viral hepatitis prevention and control.  $5.2 million of this funding funds the Adult Viral Hepatitis Prevention Coordinator position in 49 states, five cities, and the District of Columbia.  With an average funding award of $90,000, this is only enough for the position and not for the provision of core prevention services.  We believe a $31.7 million increase in funding is an important first step in restoring resources to address critical hepatitis prevention services, such as hepatitis B and C counseling, testing, and referral, in addition to delivering the hepatitis A and B vaccine, and establishing a surveillance system of chronic B and C. We want to remind our leaders that treating viral hepatitis outbreaks as sentinel events rather than systematically addressing the hepatitis B and C epidemics with over 6 million Americans infected is not cost-effective prevention.

·  Approximately 6.25 million Americans are infected with hepatitis B and C.

·  Approximately 3.2 million Americans are living with chronic hepatitis C, and the CDC estimates that approximately 19,000 new infections occurred in 2006.

·  Chronic hepatitis B and C are the leading causes of liver cancer, now among the top 10 killers of Americans over the age of 25 years, and now one of the leading killers of Americans living with HIV/AIDS.

·  Overall, the rate for hepatitis C-related deaths in the U.S. is expected to triple by 2019.

·  Up to 15 percent of HIV positive individuals are co-infected with the hepatitis B virus and up to 30 percent are co-infected with the hepatitis C virus.

·  Complications resulting from hepatitis C are a leading cause of non-AIDS-related death for people with HIV

·  Approximately half of persons with chronic HBV are Asian Americans.  HBV is most prevalent among immigrants from HBV-endemic countries (Asia and sub-Saharan Africa) who were infected at birth or childhood.  Of the 24,000 HBV-infected women who give birth every year, half are Asian Americans. 

·  CDC considers HIV positive MSM to be an emerging risk population for hepatitis C (See Dr. Ward’s IOM presentation http://www.iom.edu/Object.File
/Master/60/786/Ward%202008-12-04.pdf)

·  NASTAD’s co-infection fact sheet at http://www.nastad.org/Docs/Public/Resource
/2008513_FY2009%20Viral%20Hepatitis%20and
%20HIV%20Co-Infection.pdf

·  For more information, please see NASTAD’s fact sheet Raising the Profile, Raising Your Voice: A Primer on Viral Hepatitis Policymaking and Programs at the Federal Level at http://www.nastad.org/Docs/highlight
/200754_NASTAD_VH_Primer_May07.pdf

Colin Schwartz, Associate, Viral Hepatitis/Government Relations

National Alliance of State & Territorial AIDS Directors

444 North Capitol Street NW, Suite 339

Washington, DC  20001

Phone: (202) 434-8005 Fax:  (202) 434-8092

cschwartz@NASTAD.org        www.NASTAD.org