In Ads, Plea for Asians to Get Tests for Hepatitis B

[Guest guest]

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/03/us/03hepatitis.html

In Ads, Plea for Asians to Get Tests for Hepatitis

By JESSE McKINLEY

Published: May 2, 2010

SAN FRANCISCO — It is an image both shocking and strangely serene: 10 beauty

queens, each with a broad smile, sparkling earrings and a beautiful gown. And

written across the bottom of the photograph is a simple, stark question.

“Which one,” it reads, “deserves to die?”

The image is part of a provocative advertising campaign by San Francisco Hep B

Free, which aims to eradicate the disease with citywide vaccinations against

hepatitis B. The campaign debuts here in print and on television this week and

is aimed at jarring the city’s large Asian population into confronting the

stubborn public health hazard of hepatitis B.

San Francisco health officials estimate that as many as 1 in 10 residents of

Asian descent are infected with the virus here, a percentage that contributes to

the nation’s highest rate of liver cancer, an unhappy distinction for a city

that prides itself on its innovative universal health plan as well as its

response to past epidemics like AIDS. In the general population, about 1 in

1,000 people are infected with hepatitis B, which attacks the liver.

A large part of the problem, according to leaders in the Chinese-American

community, which is the largest Asian ethnicity here, is the stigma attached to

the disease, which is endemic in much of Asia. The advertisements encourage

people to get a “simple blood test” because “hepatitis B can be treated, even

prevented.”

“We are not a confrontational group,” said Fiona Ma, a state assemblywoman from

San Francisco, who is Chinese-American. “No one wants to talk about it. But we

know that people care about their families and their friends. And maybe if they

know it can affect them, then maybe they’ll talk about it.”

Ms. Ma knows of what she speaks; several years ago, she learned she had

hepatitis B, which she apparently contracted from her mother. The virus that

causes the disease can be spread through blood or other bodily fluids, said Dr.

A. Chow, vice president of the San Francisco Health Commission, who said

that the disease often displays few symptoms in its carriers.

“It doesn’t manifest itself until it’s really too late,” said Dr. Chow, who said

about 25 percent of patients, if untreated, develop serious ailments like liver

failure.

The campaign’s confrontational approach has ruffled some feathers. Vicky M.

Wong, the president and chief executive of DAE, the San Francisco firm that

developed the ads, said that several of the beauty queen models walked out of

the photo sessions because they were worried about its approach.

“There were so many debates as to whether ‘Are we going too far, is this right

or not?’ ” said Ms. Wong, whose company specializes in campaigns geared to Asian

audiences. “We got a lot of pushback. But there’s a lot of people who loved it.”

Ted Fang, a committee member for Hep B Free, said the high rate of infection

among Asians here has been especially frustrating considering that a vaccine for

the disease has existed for nearly 30 years.

“We have the medical tools, so long as doctors will test their patients and

monitor them,” Mr. Fang said. “We can knock out this disease.”

Mr. Fang and others liken the city’s efforts to the battle against AIDS, which

ravaged San Francisco and its gay community in the 1980s and 1990s and also

inspired in-your-face tactics. The Hep B Free program began several years ago

with a more gentle campaign — the tagline was “B A Hero” — but organizers said

it had gone only so far.

“Saying ‘Life is beautiful; get tested,’ doesn’t work,” Ms. Wong said.

For the “Which one deserves to die?” campaign Ms. Wong enlisted volunteers from

the Asian community to pose for photographs, depicting families, a basketball

team, a group of doctors and office workers.

While the campaign is being published in several languages — including Chinese,

Korean and Vietnamese — a target group is English-speaking doctors, outside the

Asian community, who might not be aware of the prevalence of the disease.

“Within our ethnic groups, we are all aware of this, because we all have friends

and families who have it,” Dr. Chow said. “But if you are a very busy

practitioner who has a lot of different types of patients, you may not know to

check at first.”

For Ms. Ma, the assemblywoman, who said she discovered she was positive for

hepatitis B when she tried to donate blood, her goal was to bring the disease

“above ground,” she said. And it is personal: while she is in good health, her

mother, who is in her 70s, had part of her liver removed as a result of the

disease.

She recovered, Ms. Ma said, but others she knew have not.

“It’s a silent killer,” she said.

[Guest guest]

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/03/us/03hepatitis.html

In Ads, Plea for Asians to Get Tests for Hepatitis

By JESSE McKINLEY

Published: May 2, 2010

SAN FRANCISCO — It is an image both shocking and strangely serene: 10 beauty

queens, each with a broad smile, sparkling earrings and a beautiful gown. And

written across the bottom of the photograph is a simple, stark question.

“Which one,” it reads, “deserves to die?”

The image is part of a provocative advertising campaign by San Francisco Hep B

Free, which aims to eradicate the disease with citywide vaccinations against

hepatitis B. The campaign debuts here in print and on television this week and

is aimed at jarring the city’s large Asian population into confronting the

stubborn public health hazard of hepatitis B.

San Francisco health officials estimate that as many as 1 in 10 residents of

Asian descent are infected with the virus here, a percentage that contributes to

the nation’s highest rate of liver cancer, an unhappy distinction for a city

that prides itself on its innovative universal health plan as well as its

response to past epidemics like AIDS. In the general population, about 1 in

1,000 people are infected with hepatitis B, which attacks the liver.

A large part of the problem, according to leaders in the Chinese-American

community, which is the largest Asian ethnicity here, is the stigma attached to

the disease, which is endemic in much of Asia. The advertisements encourage

people to get a “simple blood test” because “hepatitis B can be treated, even

prevented.”

“We are not a confrontational group,” said Fiona Ma, a state assemblywoman from

San Francisco, who is Chinese-American. “No one wants to talk about it. But we

know that people care about their families and their friends. And maybe if they

know it can affect them, then maybe they’ll talk about it.”

Ms. Ma knows of what she speaks; several years ago, she learned she had

hepatitis B, which she apparently contracted from her mother. The virus that

causes the disease can be spread through blood or other bodily fluids, said Dr.

A. Chow, vice president of the San Francisco Health Commission, who said

that the disease often displays few symptoms in its carriers.

“It doesn’t manifest itself until it’s really too late,” said Dr. Chow, who said

about 25 percent of patients, if untreated, develop serious ailments like liver

failure.

The campaign’s confrontational approach has ruffled some feathers. Vicky M.

Wong, the president and chief executive of DAE, the San Francisco firm that

developed the ads, said that several of the beauty queen models walked out of

the photo sessions because they were worried about its approach.

“There were so many debates as to whether ‘Are we going too far, is this right

or not?’ ” said Ms. Wong, whose company specializes in campaigns geared to Asian

audiences. “We got a lot of pushback. But there’s a lot of people who loved it.”

Ted Fang, a committee member for Hep B Free, said the high rate of infection

among Asians here has been especially frustrating considering that a vaccine for

the disease has existed for nearly 30 years.

“We have the medical tools, so long as doctors will test their patients and

monitor them,” Mr. Fang said. “We can knock out this disease.”

Mr. Fang and others liken the city’s efforts to the battle against AIDS, which

ravaged San Francisco and its gay community in the 1980s and 1990s and also

inspired in-your-face tactics. The Hep B Free program began several years ago

with a more gentle campaign — the tagline was “B A Hero” — but organizers said

it had gone only so far.

“Saying ‘Life is beautiful; get tested,’ doesn’t work,” Ms. Wong said.

For the “Which one deserves to die?” campaign Ms. Wong enlisted volunteers from

the Asian community to pose for photographs, depicting families, a basketball

team, a group of doctors and office workers.

While the campaign is being published in several languages — including Chinese,

Korean and Vietnamese — a target group is English-speaking doctors, outside the

Asian community, who might not be aware of the prevalence of the disease.

“Within our ethnic groups, we are all aware of this, because we all have friends

and families who have it,” Dr. Chow said. “But if you are a very busy

practitioner who has a lot of different types of patients, you may not know to

check at first.”

For Ms. Ma, the assemblywoman, who said she discovered she was positive for

hepatitis B when she tried to donate blood, her goal was to bring the disease

“above ground,” she said. And it is personal: while she is in good health, her

mother, who is in her 70s, had part of her liver removed as a result of the

disease.

She recovered, Ms. Ma said, but others she knew have not.

“It’s a silent killer,” she said.