HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES	H.C.R. NO.	297
TWENTY-FIFTH LEGISLATURE, 2009
STATE OF HAWAII

HOUSE CONCURRENT

RESOLUTION

Urging Hawaii's Congressional Delegation to SEEK increased federal funding to initiate more comprehensive and widespread hepatitis B education, prevention, and treatment programs in Hawaii.

     WHEREAS, there are an estimated 800,000 to 1.4 million Americans chronically infected with the hepatitis B virus, of whom 20 to 30 percent acquired their infection in childhood; and

     WHEREAS, without vaccination, chronic infection of hepatitis B occurs in 90 percent of infants infected at birth, 30 percent of children infected at age one to five years, and six percent of persons infected after age five; and

WHEREAS, without vaccination against hepatitis B, death from chronic liver disease occurs in 15 to 25 percent of chronically infected persons; and

     WHEREAS, the symptoms of hepatitis B are usually jaundice, fatigue, abdominal pain, loss of appetite, nausea, vomiting, and joint pain; and

     WHEREAS, nearly all infants and children and about 30 percent of persons infected in adulthood show no outward signs or symptoms of being infected with hepatitis B; and

     WHEREAS, transmission of hepatitis B occurs when blood or body fluids from an infected person enters the body of a person who is not immune; and

     WHEREAS, the hepatitis B virus is often spread through unprotected sexual intercourse, the sharing of needles in drug abuse, exposure to drug-injection needles and other sharp instruments on the job, and transmission from an infected mother to a newborn during birth; and

     WHEREAS, the United States (U.S.) Department of Health and Human Services' Office of Minority Health reports that chronic hepatitis B and liver cancer caused by hepatitis B in Asian Americans, native Hawaiians and other Pacific Islanders comprise one of the most serious but frequently neglected racial and ethnic health disparities in the U.S.; and

     WHEREAS, while acute hepatitis B cases in the U.S. have declined, the high frequency of chronic hepatitis B among Asian Americans, native Hawaiians and other Pacific Islanders, particularly the foreign-born, seems to have remained relatively constant; and

     WHEREAS, according to the Hawaii Chapter of the Liver Foundation, Hawaii has the highest rate of liver cancer in the country caused by hepatitis B and C, with an estimated 12,000 to 36,000 residents living with hepatitis B; and

     WHEREAS, the best way to prevent infection with hepatitis B is through vaccination, which has been available since 1982; now, therefore,

     BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the Twenty-Fifth Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2009, the Senate concurring, that Hawaii's Congressional delegation is hereby urged to seek increased federal funding to initiate more comprehensive and widespread hepatitis B education, prevention, and treatment programs in Hawaii; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Concurrent Resolution be transmitted to Hawaii's Congressional delegation, the Governor, and Director of Health.

OFFERED BY:

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Report Title: 

Hepatitis B; Increased Federal Funding