GSK survey: Greater Hep B education needed among Asian-Americans

GSK survey: Greater Hep B education needed among Asian-Americans

 

A new GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) survey shows that Asian-Americans need hepatitis B education. For example, although one in three of the more than 800 Asian-Americans surveyed say they have lost a family member to the disease, one in five said they were not aware of the risks associated with the virus. According to the GSK report, hepatitis B is an ongoing health problem in Asian-American communities where people are often not screened and children are not always vaccinated. The survey also showed that only one-third of respondents knew all of the ways hepatitis B can be spread . GSK sponsors a Web site, HepatitisBHelp.com, with information about the disease and content that can be translated into Chinese, Korean, and Vietnamese. GSK makes the hepatitis B treatment Epivir-HBV.