More than half of people in the U.S. living with chronic hepatitis B are Asian American, despite this group making up just 7% of the population. That disparity is dangerous because hepatitis B is deadlier—and, counterintuitively, harder to detect—in its chronic form than as an acute infection, leading to its reputation as a “silent killer.”
Diagnosis also carries stigma, and the disease is widely misunderstood. Screening and research initiatives are often insufficiently funded, further entrenching the inequities in hepatitis B outcomes.
In this four-part series, the San Francisco Public Press explores the roots of these disparities and highlights how community organizers have responded in two waves of activism and awareness campaigns. A San Francisco coalition that brought together public health officials, community organizers, patients, and clinicians in the 2000s has been revived, and organizers are working to share lessons and best practices with other cities.
The reporting series also traces researchers’ path toward discovering a cure and shows how federal cuts could waylay a promising treatment, now in clinical trials.
