In action
Meet the
Villagers
Seed the Change | Hākano Hāpai, New Zealand
What are you most looking forward to
about the Global Hepatitis Summit?
“Meeting other patient advocates, as I have
worked mostly alone or online. I am really
looking forward to hearing and sharing ideas
for news stories and in particular, talking to
doctors about generics, research, putting a
face to the buyers’ club story and answering
questions about New Zealand.”
The National Organisation for People Living
with Hepatitis B, Uganda
Vancouver Infectious Diseases Centre, Canada
What do you hope delegates will learn
from your booth?
“We hope delegates will learn about VIDC’s
mission and initiatives towards using
the medical model as a tool for social
engagement for marginalised populations,
which can not only be applied in Vancouver,
but also internationally. Our aim is also to
introduce the idea that at VIDC, the meaning
of “care” means to provide the optimal
medical, social, psychological and addiction-
based needs of all individuals and that is the
“4-legged chair model” in which we follow for
socially engaging the vulnerable population.”
Viral Hepatitis Care Network (VIRCAN), Canada
Please describe your organisation in
2-3 sentences.
How have you worked with the
scientific community in the past?
“VIRCAN is a structured academic-
community partnership that will address
issues throughout the care of viral hepatitis,
from diagnosis to treatment to cure. Based
out of the Toronto Centre for Liver Disease
(TCLD), one of the largest liver units in North
America, the VIRCAN team looks forward to
demonstrating how viral hepatitis screening
and treatment should be optimized in other
urban settings across Canada, and around the
world.”
“We have been mobilising frontline health
workers and through our programmes we
have been able to facilitate them during
training. We also develop materials together
with the scientific community and link our
members to them.”
United Against Hepatitis, Russian Federation
What are you most looking forward to
about the Global Hepatitis Summit?
“We’re planning on meeting with medical
professionals from all around the world to
discuss the latest trends in prevention and
treatment of viral hepatitis and then take
this information back home to Russia. We’re
looking forward to learning best practices
in advocacy and access to treatment from
patients’ groups from other countries,
especially the ones that are “stuck in the
middle” - i.e., neither rich nor too poor.”
12 hep Voice May 2018
World Hepatitis Alliance
What are you most looking forward to
about the Global Hepatitis Summit?
“We can’t wait to bring some many engaged
patient advocates together under one roof.
We’ll be launching our global quest to find the
missing millions at the event and encouraging
advocates and medical professionals alike
to join the quest. We’ll also be keeping our
supporters across the world in the loop with
live updates from the event.”
May 2018 13
hep Voice