New health education website launched

A new health education website, HepBsmart.com, sponsored by Gilead Sciences, Inc., intended for audiences in the United States, is now online.

Launched last September 7, HepBsmart.com contains practical information about chronic hepatitis B (CHB), a potentially life-threatening liver disease that affects an estimated two million people in the United States and is the leading cause of liver cancer.

Chronic hepatitis B is caused by a virus and can slowly damage the liver, without causing obvious symptoms.  Chronic hepatitis B can be diagnosed with a simple blood test, prevented with a vaccine, and managed with appropriate care – but alarmingly, most people living with the disease don’t know they are infected.

Without treatment, 1 in 4 people with CHB may die of disease-related complications. The impact of chronic hepatitis B in the United States is more severe among Asian American communities.

HepBsmart.com features:

•             Information on how to prevent CHB, testing for the disease, and management of CHB.

•             An innovative animated video depicting a CHB patient’s journey from diagnosis to care (available in 14 languages with subtitles).

•             Educational brochures in 14 languages, including Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese, and Tagalog among others.

HepBSmart.com is an educational website created by Gilead Sciences, a maker of medicines for chronic hepatitis B.  The website is part of Gilead’s ongoing effort to raise community awareness of chronic hepatitis B.