Quarterly Update
We have experienced a steady growth in activity on the forum with a 15% increase in signups and a stable amount of users visiting the forum. Numerous users are consistently seeking information about their hepatitis B status with the most popular topics being immigration/visa issues and lab result interpretations. It’s fantastic to witness such active participation from members who are committed to fostering a safe and welcoming environment for open discussion and inquiries.
Thank you again to our @moderators who continue to actively engage with our new users and with other members on the community forum. We appreciate the work you put in to ensure that new visitors know that they are not alone and that someone is there to support them in their time of need.
Promotion
- Continuing to promote the forum all around Australia – to general practitioners, pharmacies and hospitals
- We have been granted a Google Ad Grant so we have been able to promote internationally
- We welcomed Dai Le (Federal Member for Fowler & Councillor for Fairfield/Cabravale) to the Westmead Institute for Medical Research. She met with @ThomasTu and heard about his breakthrough research in Hepatitis B and HepBCommunity.org
Conferences that we have promoted HepBCommunity.org at:
- International HBV Meeting (19th – 23rd Sept) – held in Kobe, Japan
- ACH4 18th Scientific Conference and Living Positive Victoria (29th Nov to 1st Dec) – held in Melbourne, Australia
Grants that we’ve applied for as partners:
- Victoria Department of Health funding for mental health in CALD populations
Research & statements we’ve supported:
- Assessments of public health and community organisation responses to COVID-19 and other infectious diseases by LGBTIQA+ people and those living with blood-borne viruses. If you are interested in reading it, please visit: Dropbox - Drysdale and Lupton 2023 Research Briefing Paper - Immunity Project.pdf - Simplify your life
- Australian Priority Statement: With concerted action we can find a cure for hepatitis B – Australian Priority Statement: With concerted action we can find a cure for hepatitis B | Hepatitis Australia
Get involved! Current and ongoing events
- Held our 2nd research showcase – if you would like to watch the awards ceremony, please visit: 2023 HepBCommunity.org Research Showcase Awards Ceremony - General Discussion - Hep B Community
- Virtual meet ups will be changed:
- These meet ups will be held every 6 months instead of every 2 months
- We will still continue having a topic for discussion for each virtual meet – the next one will be on naturopathy and alternative medicine
- The Doodle Poll to determine dates and times for this virtual meet will be released shortly
- We would like to thank Gilead and The Stephan Urban Foundation for partially funding aspects of the STEP BE-OND (Supporting, Training, and Engaging People with hepatitis B to Establish and Open New Dialogues) project which will involve peer led mentoring and educational and training modules for moderators
- The Hepatitis B Foundation has created the B Educated Hep B training hub (supported by Gilead), so that people are able to inform themselves on hepatitis B & D
- If you would like to participate in Hep B Foundation’s online training modules, please visit: Hep B Training Hub
- If you have any feedback to provide about the online training modules, please post a reply with your feedback here: Hep B Training Modules - Learning resources - Hep B Community
ITEM-B
We are still recruiting users from the forum for this survey! If you have 15 minutes to spare, please take the time to answer our survey – Help HepBCommunity.org help the community: Survey to understand barriers to treatment and care - Members only - Hep B Community – so we can understand and identify barriers that are stopping you from receiving proper care and treatment for hepatitis B.