Two Colorado Organizations Launch Hepatitis C Awareness Campaign Aimed at Hispanics
Two Colorado not-for-profit organizations this week are launching a hepatitis C awareness campaign aimed at Hispanics, who make up 17% of the state's 4.3 million residents and represent an estimated 30% of the 77,400 people in the state who have hepatitis C, the Denver Rocky Mountain News reports. Through the campaign, the Hep C Connection and the Latino American Research and Service Agency are aiming to reach out to Latino leaders to encourage people to get tested for the disease, and the groups plan to make available more Spanish-language hepatitis C education materials. "If we're serious about tackling something this big, everyone has to hear about it," Rosario de Baca, health coordinator for LARASA, said. The disease has been called a "silent killer" because it deteriorates an infected person's liver for years without any symptoms and is the leading cause of liver disease in the United States. Approximately 1.8% of the U.S. population, or 35,000 people, are infected with the disease each year, and 12,000 people die annually from complications associated with hepatitis C, according to the Rocky Mountain News (Olvera, Denver Rocky Mountain News, 5/12).
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