South Asian Hep Initiative Meeting Highlights | 10-21-21

Hep Free NYC South Asian Hep Initiative Meeting Highlights

10-21-21 (3 – 4:30 PM EST) via Zoom

In attendance: See below

Presentation

Increasing Hepatitis Screening in the South Asian Community – Korean Community Services & SACCS- View presentation here

• KCS provides Hep B free screenings and managed care for uninsured and uninsured folks. Works with Korean community leaders and provides culturally competent education
• Created a Faith-based Organization (FBO) Hep B toolkit since churches are important in the Korean community. Toolkit includes Hep B basics, common questions and misconceptions
• Tailored the FBO toolkit to better serve the South Asian communities
• Conducted 2 screening events with SACCS and found 2 individuals with Chronic Hep B and 5 need Hep B vaccine
• Received the 2021 Hep B United grant: plans to partner with 2 FBOs and conduct 4 screenings in the SA community

Discussion

Barriers and Strategies for Increasing Testing in the South Asian Community

• Misconceptions, distrust of western meds, do not feel comfortable with getting screened in front of everyone
• Lack of knowledge, not enough info advertised about Hep B, creates a myth, why get screened if it’s not normalized
• “Considered bad” because it will be a lifetime disease
• Strategies: NPs or PCPs who are from the communities doing testing

• • Ensuring messages are in SA languages, from people who speak the language, ads on ethnic media (radio) in Hindi, Urdu, Bengali, Guajarati, Nepali
  • At The Hindu Temple Society of North America in Flushing, health and wellness days are held on 3^rd Saturdays (live on Facebook) — contact Ravi Vaidyanaat

Attendance

1. Adeeba Khan, Hepatitis Navigation Project Coordinator ,NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, akhan8@health.nyc.gov
2. Lia Alleyne, Health Educator, NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, lalleyne@health.nyc.gov
3. Naurin Islam, Sapna NYC Inc., naurin@sapnanyc.org
4. Okhyun Ko, Patient Navigator, Korean Community Services, oko@kcsny.org
5. Paramita Basu, Touro College of Pharmacy, paramita.basu@touro.edu
6. Peter Kim, Korean Community Services, pkim@kcsny.org
7. Ravi Vaidyanaat, The Hindu Temple Society of North America, ravi.v@nyganeshtemple.org
8. Rehan Mehmood, Director: Health Services, South Asian Council for Social Services (SACSS), rehan@sacssny.org
9. Sarah Ahmed Communications and Community Engagement Coordinator, NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, sahmed10@health.nyc.gov
10. Shaili Gandhi, Hepatitis Program Assistant NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, sgandhi1@health.nyc.gov
11. Umaima Khatun, Program Manager, NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, ukhatun@health.nyc.gov

Last Updated on April 25, 2023 by HepFree NYC