Kennedy Lawford Visits Ukraine To Advocate For Hep C Prevention And Treatment

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Kennedy Lawford Visits Ukraine To Advocate For Hep C Prevention And

Treatment

Main Category: Liver Disease / Hepatitis

Article Date: 21 Mar 2010

Kennedy Lawford paid a visit to Ukraine on 14-17 March 2010 to

discuss with senior health officials, civil society activists, donor community

issues related to hepatitis C (Hep C) prevention in Ukraine and share experience

in its healing. US national spokesperson on Hep C Lawford together with UNICEF

Chief of HIV/AIDS Section Jimmy Kolker visited Kyiv to raise public awareness on

Hep C and HIV co-infection and to advocate for the aversion of risky behavior

among young Ukrainians.

Kennedy Lawford, nephew of F. Kennedy, has worked extensively

in politics, government and the non-profit sector as well as spent over twenty

years in the film and television business as an actor and producer. However,

before his successes, Lawford battled a drug and alcohol addiction for much of

his early life. In recovery for more then 24 years and being Hep C survivor, he

shares his experience with others hoping to make a difference in people's lives.

Starting his visit to Ukraine, Lawford emphasized " Millions of people, including

Ukrainians, are affected with Hep C. Having the recent world progress in its

prevention and treatment, Ukraine has a chance to learn from international

experience on how to address effectively this public health challenge. And I

hope my advocacy visit to Kyiv will make a positive contribution to it. "

Globally, an estimated 170 million persons are chronically infected with the Hep

C and 3 to 4 million persons are newly infected each year. In Europe the most

common route of transmission occurs via injecting drug use. In Ukraine, as many

as 1.1 millions may be chronically infected with Hep C, which is the leading

co-infection for HIV. In a country, which is the most affected by HIV and AIDS

in Europe, 80 per cent of Ukrainians living with HIV are young people.

" Ukraine has made a progress in prevention of HIV infection among young people,

but more to be done for making significant impact in battling this epidemics and

saving lives of younger generations " , stated Chief of HIV/AIDS Section at

UNICEF's New York headquarters Jimmy Kolker. " That's why the visit of such high

profile advocate as Kennedy Lawford generates public awareness and

encourages political commitment to address Hep C and HIV effectively. "

Hep C treatment is successful in 45-80 per cent of cases depending on the virus

genotype. To advocate for access to treatment for Hepatitis C and share the US

experience dealing with it, Lawford met the representatives of the Ministry of

Health of Ukraine and the Parliament Committee on Public Health, as well as

international organizations. In addition, he met Hep C survivors and delivered

public lecture in Kyiv to raise awareness on public health challenges and to

empower youth for prevention and community activism.

Kennedy Lawford is a distinguished advocate for critical health

issues facing our society today. His commitment to the issues of substance abuse

and hepatitis C has reinvigorated the debate around these vital concerns. He

spends his time writing, acting and speaking around the world on health issues.

He is the author of several books, including the New York Times bestseller

Symptoms of Withdrawal: A Memoir of Snapshots and Redemption and in May 2009

Harper released his third book Healing Hepatitis C.

Currently, he holds positions as a Public Policy Consultant for Caron Treatment

Centers and works with the United Nations, the Canadian Center on Substance

Abuse in efforts to raise awareness globally about addiction and hepatitis. He

holds a Masters Certification in Clinical Psychology from Harvard Medical School

as a Lecturer on Psychiatry. Lawford was born on March 29, 1955 in Santa ,

California.

Source

UNICEF