HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES	H.R. NO.	269
TWENTY-FIFTH LEGISLATURE, 2009
STATE OF HAWAII

HOUSE 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 who are 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, 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 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