Asia-Pacific Health Promotion will help you learn about hepatitis starting in May

Asia-Pacific Health Promotion will help you learn about hepatitis starting in May. Every year, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention designates May as Hepatitis Awareness Month, which is extremely important for Asian Americans...

Asia-Pacific Health Promotion will help you learn about hepatitis starting in May. Every year, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention designates May as Hepatitis Awareness Month, which is extremely important for Asian Americans because one in ten Asian Americans are infected with hepatitis B, compared to only one in every thousand people in other American groups. Most Asian Americans have never received a simple blood test for hepatitis B, and many people who have been infected with hepatitis B do not know that they are infected. Hepatitis B may lie dormant for years, even decades, without symptoms. By the time symptoms appear, it is too late for effective treatment. Therefore, early diagnosis and treatment are extremely important. New treatments can effectively delay the reproduction of the virus in the liver. The Asia Pacific Health Promotion Association is a local non-profit health organization that has provided free hepatitis B education and blood testing services to the local Asia Pacific Health Promotion Association since 2005. So far, more than 2,500 people have received this test, of which 150 have tested positive. APHA encourages all Asian and Pacific Islanders living in Maricopa County to get tested for hepatitis B. If you have health insurance, you can ask your doctor to do this test for you. If you do not have health insurance, please call APCA at (602) 265-4598 for free hepatitis B testing information, or visit the APCA website at www.apcaaz.org.