To piggyback Alena's post about the LA Times discussing the efficacy of the hepatitis B vaccine in reducing liver cancer cases, I wanted to share the New York Times article that was posted today about the same study: September 22, 2009 Global Update Hepatitis: Hepatitis B Vaccinations at Birth Are Tied to Less Liver Cancer, Taiwan Study Finds Vaccinating children against hepatitis B at birth can significantly reduce liver cancer in older children, a new study in Taiwan has found. Hepatitis B vaccination at birth became standard policy in Taiwan in 1984. For the 20-year follow-up study, scientists at the National Taiwan University Hospital collected data on nearly 2,000 children and young people given diagnoses of early-stage liver cancer. Among children ages 6 to 19, there were only 64 cases in the vaccinated group, compared with 444 in the unvaccinated group. Of the few that developed cancer despite vaccination, researchers found that many were not given enough vaccine doses. The study appeared last week in The Journal of the National Cancer Institute. In the United States, children began being routinely vaccinated against hepatitis B at birth in 1991. In this country, it is most often transmitted by infected mothers, or by sex, intravenous drug use or blood transfusion, and only about 5,000 Americans die each year of cirrhosis or liver cancer caused by it. Some parents object to vaccination of their infants, saying it implies they will eventually engage in behavior they consider sinful. But the disease is also transmitted by close contact in families, and carriers often have no symptoms. In Africa, Asia, Eastern Europe, the Middle East and the Pacific, about one million people a year die of it, making it, by some estimates, the world’s 10th-leading cause of death. == You can also find the study that was done HERE. It is definitely exciting to see that there is increased coverage on the true outcomes of the hepatitis B vaccine and the importance for newborns to be vaccinated within 12 hours of birth to prevent hepatitis B infection and subsequent risk of liver cancer or liver failure. Amy
|
Hello!
The 2008-2009 Jade Ribbon Youth Council was recognized in the San Mateo County Times for their great work on Hepatitis B Awareness Week in May to raise awareness about hepatitis and liver cancer. Patrick Domingo, one of the members of the 15 person council was highlighted, and I'm happy to see the students garner recognition for the fantastic work they are doing to save lives in their communities. You can read the article here: http://www.mercurynews.com/sanmateocounty/ci_13283784 Congratulations to the 2008-2009 JRYC and to Nicole Tantoco for her superb guidance! Looking forward to interviewing the 2009-2010 JRYC applicants this upcoming week.
Amy
PS. Thanks to Alena for finding this article!
|
Hello Everyone, Things are always busy in the office especially without our wonderful interns. We're currently hiring our new team, so please do let me know if you're interested in our academic year internship. Last night, attended the Corporate Asian American Employee Network (CAAEN) 6th Annual Event at Chevron in San Ramon. It was a great event where I had the chance to speak with many Asian American employees at the largest Silicon Valley corporations about hepatitis B and liver cancer, and why they should care. The wheel game was a great hit, primarily because of the cute Jade Ribbon Campaign cows that we have, and people were very receptive to the education and really took what I said to heart. Our booth was definitely one fo the busiest, which was great. Cisco, our first partner to launch a corporate hepatitis B initiative, was once again an incredible support at the CAAEN event. May from Cisco was so kind and helped me educate when the booth was swarmed. She and Wai-pan even helped me clean up afterwards - SO KIND! It's fantastic to be at these types of events because you never know who you meet and who can potentially be your ally. Also attended the leadership forum that included a panel with top Asian American leaders from Visa, Chevron, and AAA. It was great to hear their perspectives on what it means to be an Asian American leader, the pros, the challenges, and where they see Asian Americans in future leadership. Our economy, our world is becoming increasingly diverse, and we need to embrace that diversity and bring it to the table. I enjoyed talking to Lynn Chou after the panel discussion - she's such an inspiration as a successful Asian American female leader. One thing I learned (among many others) is that to advance in your career is to excel at what you do, but to also have those 3-4 projects that you take ownership of for each year that you can speak about to your superiors and others to demonstrate your leadership and ability. Thank you for reading! Amy
|
Hello Everyone, Read a great NPR transcript of Congressmen Judy Chu and Mike Honda on healthcare reform. Judy Chu mentions hepatitis B and it's importance in heatlhcare reform for Asian and Pacific Islanders. Especially pertinent since under our current healthcare program, those with pre-existing conditions are often denied healthcare. My own mother suffers from this problem due to her chronic hep B infection, so it is great to hear a politicion speaking out about this isue. http://www.apaforprogress.org/asian-american-democrats-discuss-healthcare-npr-transcript Let me know what your thoughts are! Amy
|
Hello Reader, Thanks for reading today. (From August 18th and 20th - almost there!) Hepatitis B and the Jade Ribbon Campaign
The past two days have been meeting days, and I have had the opportunity to work some really great people. Of note, today, I was invited to the Vietnamese Reach for Health Coalition meeting by Ching Wong, and was impressed by the dedication and influence of many of those who were in the room. The people there are all incredibly committed to improving the lives of those in their communities, and I really want to express how much it inspired me today to see them all in that room. There were familiar faces, but there were many new ones, and I’m looking forward to learning more about what they do and how the ALC can partner with them to reach the Vietnamese community. Also worked on some Jade Ribbon Campaign design ideas for a well-known Asian bakery on the west coast, so hopefully the product ideas will be inspiring to them! Will share when things are more finalized. Today, in the office, we took some cute pictures of our Jade Ribbon Campaign cows (we do one animal each year in accordance to the Chinese Zodiac – and this year is the ox). I thought you’d enjoy seeing them. They were actually inspired through a cow twitpic contest – thanks to CL and TC for rounding up the cows for these photos:  Jade Ribbon Campaign Cows and the Jade Ribbon!  Jade Ribbon Campaign Cows encircling the Jade Ribbon Asian Liver Center / Jade Ribbon Campaign Update
Finally got around to uploading the online Jade Ribbon Youth Council 2009-2010 application onto the Asian Liver Center website. I’m excited for what this year’s 15-person high school council will come up with to raise awareness about hepatitis B. Finally post-processed the Youth Leadership Conference 2009 photos today. Had the opportunity to teach TC, AC, and CL a little post-processing in Photoshop – I always like to get people Photoshop savvy! Thx to TC and AC for helping me with the last set of photos. And, TC has been a great help in uploading the team videos. I’m looking to upload all those on the ALC website tomorrow. Thank you for reading! Amy
|
Hello Readers! Today is a post about Filipino Outreach and the Jade Ribbon Campaign bag at 99 Ranch Market: (From August 16, 2009) Hepatitis B Outreach
Today I spoke at Our Lady Mercy Church in Daly City with parishoners about hepatitis B and liver cancer. Usually SC gives these talks, so it was a new experience. I usually do volunteer training or small group education, so this was exciting for me. NT and I will need to sit down and rethink how to drive more people to the event since the turnout was less than we had expected, especially with pastor encouragment and a large placement in the bulletin. One thing we didn’t have going for us was the location of the education / screening. Location is so key. Hopefully we can partner with an organization so we can offer light refreshments – people are always attracted to food! On a separate note, I’m really proud of NT and TC, they’re working very hard to spearhead our outreach into the Filipino and Korean communities, and it’s great. Hopefully I can nudge them to be more interactive with the participants and volunteers since it really is their show, and everyone is really looking to them to set the tone for how they should act and how comfortable they feel. Additionally, I’m looking forward to UP’s events in September for the Vietnamese community, and having her see her work come to fruition. Also had a chance to chat with three YLC 2009 alumni, and it was really heartening to hear of their enthusiasm to start a high school club in Davis, CA. How exciting! Youth are fantastic. I also can’t believe summer internships are ending soon! How sad! I will definitely miss this intern group. Jade Ribbon Campaign
After I had the chance to eat lumpias from Goldilocks (a well-known Filipino food place), I went in search of it; however, I was thrawted because I did not have an exact address and I was sans phone. However, I did stumble upon Daly City’s 99 Ranch Market and decided to grab some groceries and dinner there. As I was there, I bought a Jade Ribbon Bag (yes, I know, I’m blantantly trying to promote the campaign) and it was super useful for the groceries I bought. It was neat, because when I was at Shang Kee Bakery, I placed the buns and egg tarts I got there into the bag, and a lady was eyeing how much I could fit in there. Hopefully she gets one too! The Jade Ribbon reusable bag sale is ending on Aug. 31st, so I need to think of another way to push so people buy in to the idea of using a sustainable bag. If you have any thoughts, let me know. Thank you for reading! Amy
|
|
|
