Last year at about this period, people in the Greater Toronto Area got scared about the possibility of a pandemic of HINI influenza. Several cases of death, possibly caused by the virus causing this disease, were reported by the media. One was that of a teenager who just came from a camping trip, complained of headache and had a temperature. In a matter of hours, he was dead.
People rushed to local health centers for an influenza vaccination against this particular virus. Due to the rush for the demand for the vaccine, there was a shortage of supply as well as personnel to attend to the long line-ups of people, especially those with children, who were considered high risks. Televisions, newspapers and other forms of media continuously reported on the progress of coping with the impending danger. Experts on the HINI virus were invited to talk on television to give information that would lessen the panic. The government spent millions of dollars to facilitate the ser5vices for vaccination.
In the late 1980’s, another virus was discovered to have been spread through infected blood – Hepatitis C. It was reported that about 90,000 to 160,m000 Canadian contracted this disease between 1960 and 1990 through infected blood or blood products.
About 170 million people had been infected worldwide; in Canada 242,500. In 2007, there were 8,000 newly infected people.
The discovery of Hepatitis C did not create the panic that HINI did because its symptoms take a long time to appear. Actually, once the symptoms appear the disease is already difficult to control.
Hepatitis C is not a very well-known disease. As a result of general low public awareness, individuals may have the disease and are unaware of it. They may unknowingly transmit it and they do not seek treatment.
A study by the World Health Organization showed that Hepatitis C is common in Egypt, China, Southern Italy, India, Pakistan, Philippines and Vietnam. People who were born or had resided in these countries may have contracted the disease and are carrying the virus in their bloods even for a long time and are not aware of it.
It is therefore important that people in Canada who came from these aforementioned countries be given the information about the disease so that they may be tested, treated, take the necessary precautions to safeguard their health and avoid the risk of transmitting it.
The Canadian Ethnocultural Council has undertaken the project to educate the public but most especially the people from those countries that are considered high risks to prevent its spread to reach a point where it is uncontrollable. It is especially significant to note at this point that there is no vaccination against Hepatitis C,.
Hepatitis C is a disease that attacks the liver. The Canadian Liver Foundation has partnered with the Canadian Ethnocultural Council in this project – Community leaders from four groups of people of countries from which Canada gets immigrants which has three percent or higher prevalence of Hepatitis C, were invited to participate in the projects.
It was deemed necessary that members of these groups take part in this project to be able to determine how the barriers in disseminating information in each cultural group maybe determined,
Representatives of the Chinese, Egyptian, Filipino and Vietnamese communities from Toronto, Montreal, Calgary and Vancouver met in Ottawa for this conference in 2007.
` The brainstorming session among members of this group was very fruitful. From the exchange of ideas the sponsoring organizations were able to identify the important issues that were incorporated in the outline of information proposed for the project.
Some of them are:
1. Major health issues in the community
2. Diseases that are often or not talked about
3. Why Hepatitis C is not often talked about
4. Where members of the community go to get information on health issues.
5. Cultural practices that affect health
6. Barriers that exist in getting information on health issues
7. How these barriers may be overcome
8. Effective ways to engage the community on health issues
From the information gathered from these community leaders a Training Guide for Community Care, Health and Social Services Providers for Hepatitis C in Ethnocultural Communities in Canada was prepared.
This guide included the most important facts about Hepatitis C, prepared in such a way that they can easily be understood and translated in each of the languages of the different communities.
That conference of community leaders also pointed out the importance of the involvement of each ethnocultural community is making its members get engaged in this particular health issue. An understanding of the cultural values of each group is necessary in transmitting the information. There is also the appreciation of healthy care providers, health professionals and media people in each ethnocultural group that can assist in the project.
Further meetings involving the four ethnocultural groups in Montreal, Calgary, Toronto and Vancouver with representatives from various organizations, to further validate the issues and gain more useful information on how the members of each group would develop interest in becoming agents that would spread interest in learning more about Hepatitis C.
The Canadian Ethnocultural Council and the Canadian Liver Foundation express great appreciation in the cooperation this project has elicited from the four ethnocultural communities. The community leaders, health care providers, health professionals and media people of each group have contributed tremendously in making this project a success.
In the Filipino community, Kababayan Community Centre, Markham Federation of Filipino Canadians. St. Luke’s Nurses Alumni Associations and Balita were represented in the last community meeting in Toronto.
Other organizations have expressed their interest in joining the project. Materials in Hepatitis C will be sent to them. A 5 x 3” card on basic information about Hepatitis C will soon be available.
The talks are not yet finished. The cooperation of the community to consistently follow up the communication of information or Hepatitis C is very important to be sure that each member of the group is reached.
As one representative of the Filipino Community suggested in the last conference, ”Take the information to the park in summer. You will even get a meal while you distribute the flyers.
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