Today, The San Francisco Foundation hosted U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Assistant Secretary of Health, Dr. Howard Koh, California State Assemblywoman Fiona Ma, and Ted Fang of San Francisco Hep B Free for a roundtable discussion with community and industry leaders to focus efforts on making San Francisco the first city in the country to eradicate Hepatitis B. Speakers highlighted the importance of continued public-private partnerships in the regional and national implementation of the National Viral Hepatitis Action Plan. The HHS National Viral Hepatitis Action Plan is modeled off of the work started here in San Francisco, utilizing health prevention principles and a system-wide approach.

The San Francisco Foundation is proud to be one of the initial funders, and continued supporters, of the San Francisco Hep B Free campaign to combat a disease that  disproportionately effects Asian Americans. Hepatitis B is the greatest health disparity for Asians and Asian Americans today. The SF Hep B Free Campaign puts San Francisco at the forefront in fighting chronic Hepatitis B, and is the largest, most comprehensive healthcare campaign for Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders in the US.

Secretary Koh also meet with the San Francisco Hepatitis C Task Force, a community based Task Force supported by the San Francisco Foundation, to discuss the on-going efforts to control Hepatitis C. San Francisco has the largest proportion of people with Hep C of any city in United States that disproportionately effects African Americans, Latinos, parolees and injection drug users.