File #: Res 0234-2004    Version: * Name: Allocate additional funding towards raising awareness of Hepatitis B.
Type: Resolution Status: Filed
Committee: Committee on Health
On agenda: 3/24/2004
Enactment date: Law number:
Title: Resolution calling upon the President and the Congress of the United States to allocate additional funding towards raising awareness of Hepatitis B and finding a cure for this disease.
Sponsors: John C. Liu, Charles Barron, Tracy L. Boyland, Yvette D. Clarke, Lewis A. Fidler, James F. Gennaro, Alan J. Gerson, Margarita Lopez, Michael C. Nelson, Annabel Palma, Christine C. Quinn, James Sanders, Jr., Albert Vann
Council Member Sponsors: 13

Res. No. 234

 

Resolution calling upon the President and the Congress of the United States to allocate additional funding towards raising awareness of Hepatitis B and finding a cure for this disease.

 

By Council Members Liu, Barron, Boyland, Clarke, Fidler, Gennaro, Gerson, Lopez, Nelson, Palma, Quinn, Sanders and Vann

 

                     Whereas, Chronic Hepatitis B is a serious disease caused by the Hepatitis B virus (HBV), that attacks the liver and can cause lifelong infection, cirrhosis (scarring) of the liver, liver cancer, liver failure and death; and

Whereas, According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), HBV is transmitted through blood and other bodily fluids, which can occur through such avenues as direct blood-to-blood contact, unprotected sex, use of non-sterile syringes and from an infected woman to her newborn during birth; and

Whereas, Although most healthy adults who are infected with HBV will recover and develop protective antibodies, ninety percent of infants infected at birth, thirty percent of children infected at ages one to five years and six percent of persons infected after age five will develop chronic Hepatitis B, according to the CDC; and

Whereas, The CDC estimates that 1.25 million Americans are chronically infected with Hepatitis B; and

Whereas, According to the Asian Liver Center at Stanford University, Hepatitis B is a disease that disproportionately affects Asian Americans, who comprise over half of Americans who are chronically infected; and

Whereas, The CDC states that Asian Americans suffer disproportionately from some diseases, such as Hepatitis B, due to factors such as language and cultural barriers, stigma associated with certain conditions and lack of health insurance; and

Whereas, According to the Hepatitis B Foundation, Hepatitis B is know as a “silent infection” because most people do not know that they are infected, as many have no symptoms and those with symptoms mistakenly believe that they have the flu; and

Whereas, Although Hepatitis B can be prevented by a safe and effective vaccination (available since 1982) and there are medications available to treat chronic Hepatitis B infection, there is currently no cure for Hepatitis B once acquired; now, therefore, be it

Resolved, That the Council of the City of New York calls upon the President and the Congress of the United States to allocate additional funding towards raising awareness of Hepatitis B and finding a cure for this disease.

 

LS #687

CR

3/18/04