There are 130-170 million people living with hepatitis C globally and 3 to 4 million new infections every year. In the UK there are 250,000 to 500,000 people infected, of whom considerably more than half have no idea they have the virus. Despite Government Action plans in all 4 countries of the UK, awareness remains dangerously low, leaving all those still undiagnosed at risk of developing potentially fatal liver disease as well as unwittingly infecting others.
GET TESTED! was founded in 2009 and kicked off with a hugely successful collaboration between The Hepatitis C Trust and Pete Tong’s international Music Summit (IMS). Since it’s inception we’ve had T shirts designed by both Bella Freud and Sadie Frost, we’ve put on a sold out gig at the Paradise took over the guest list at We Love at Space attended film premiers and constantly found innovative ways to fundraise. 2010 has seen us back at IMS where we doubled our fundraising total, we’ve had a reception at The House of Commons and we are currently working on a photographic project with Boy George, which will be out in September.
Most importantly in May this year the World Health Organization committed to raising awareness of Viral Hepatitis due to the lobbying of The Hepatitis C Trust and The World Hepatitis Alliance, which we also run from our London offices.
Hepatitis C Trust is committed to addressing health inequalities by raising awareness and promoting testing in hard to reach groups at high risk, including homeless and ethnic minority communities, especially the South Asian ones. Throughout 2010 we have rolled out mobile clinics all over the UK and tested and diagnosed many, many of people. More testing and more awareness raising needs to be done as too many people are still dying unnecessarily of Hepatitis C. As GET TESTED! gathers momentum and raises more money we will be able to supply more services across the UK.