Community Empowerment
Community Empowerment
We increase the skills and abilities of our members and civil society organisations to advocate for and implement hepatitis elimination plans. Through a variety of programmes, webinars and events we share learnings and increase knowledge.
WHA Webinars
WHA delivers a wide range of webinars each year designed to build knowledge across a variety of areas. Previous webinars have covered topics such as how we can engage with policy makers, the importance of addressing hepatitis in children and young people and preventing mother to child transmission of hepatitis B.
All our previous webinars can be found on our YouTube channel here.
WHA partner webinars
WHA works with partner organisations to deliver webinars which focus on hot topics in hepatitis elimination. Previous webinars are listed below.
The Global Impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on hepatitis B prevention and treatment programmes
In partnership with the Hepatitis B Foundation, in March 2021, we delivered a webinar which looked at the short and possible long-term impacts of the global pandemic on hepatitis B initiatives. With nearly 300 million people globally living with chronic hepatitis B infection and only 10 percent of those diagnosed, it is clear that action towards the elimination targets has been slow. The COVID-19 pandemic poses a further challenge to the gains made to date.
Panellists explored the impact of the pandemic in relation to disruptions to prevention, diagnosis, and treatment services, all of which potentially threaten global hepatitis B elimination goals. Speakers also shared local experiences and recommendations on strategies to mitigate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Watch the webinar here – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GCQoEEBLACM
Accountability to the people to ensure: “Health for all: protect everyone”
In celebration of Universal Health Coverage (UHC) Day, on the 11 December 2020, WHA, together with the International AIDS Society (IAS), Global Network of People Living with HIV (GNP+), the UNITE Global Network of Parliamentarians to End Infectious Diseases, the NCD Alliance and the Civil Society Engagement Mechanism (CESM), hosted a webinar supporting the theme of UHC Day – “Health for all: protect everyone”.
Speakers and panellists from across the world highlighted the importance of the right to health and why health systems must be designed to serve the needs of people rather than to only treat a specific disease. The webinar emphasised that achieving this will require meaningful and ongoing engagement with civil society organisations in the design and implementation of UHC programmes.
Watch the webinar here. – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ow993NV51XY
2017 pre-summit members conference
In 2017, the World Hepatitis Alliance held its second World Hepatitis Summit in Sao Paulo, Brazil. Like 2015, a 1.5 day Pre-Summit was held before the main Summit for WHA member organisations.
The event was designed to highlight the role that civil society have to play in reaching elimination and the importance of harnessing the patient voice to achieve that. The meeting brought together 157 WHA members representing 138 different viral hepatitis patient groups.
The programme for the Pre-Summit was developed using feedback from the 2015 meeting and was designed to be a mix of expert led and peer to peer learning opportunities. Topics covered included access to diagnostics and medicines, building a global movement and regional advocacy. The innovative Open Space session also gave participants the opportunity to define the topics they were most interested in and to join discussions most relevant to their interests. Members found that the mix of presentations and workshops enhanced capability building and helped to increase their knowledge. The conference made an immediate impact on members, with one member from USA stating “Networking! I am new to advocacy and this has been instrumental in getting me started” and other from Ghana saying that it “Offered the opportunity for different communities to come together and share ideas, learn from each other towards elimination of viral hepatitis”.
For more information please find the report here – https://www.worldhepatitisalliance.org/sites/default/files/resources/documents/pre-summit_member_conference_2017_event_report.pdf
2015 pre-summit members conference
In In September 2015, World Hepatitis Alliance held the inaugural World Hepatitis Summit in Glasgow, Scotland. Before the Summit, a two-day Pre-Summit, aimed at capacity building, was held for WHA member organisations. It brought together 155 individuals from 136 viral hepatitis patient groups across 62 different countries.
For the two days, members were broken up into five groups and attended various workshops throughout the day. The sessions covered topics included Advocacy, Fundraising and Media and Public Relations, with all members finding that the sessions improved their knowledge in those areas. The Pre-summit also included a poster session which facilitated peer to peer learning by giving members a platform to showcase their World Hepatitis Day 2015 activities to each other.
For more information please find the report here – https://www.worldhepatitisalliance.org/sites/default/files/resources/documents/Pre-Summit%20Member%20Conference%20Summary%20Report.pdf
