Layal Rabat, Empowerment and Advocacy Manager at Asian Pacific Community in Action (APCA), provides an inside look into APCA’s hepatitis B efforts in Arizona.
Asian Pacific Community in Action (APCA) was formed in 2002 to meet the health-related needs of Asian Americans and Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islanders (AA & NHPI) residing in Arizona. Our vision is to inspire diverse communities to seek healthier futures. Our mission is to provide services, advocacy and education for diverse communities to help create a healthier and more empowered population seeking good health. In addition to hepatitis B testing, education, and referrals, APCA’s programs include Oral Health Advocacy, Advocacy Training, Policy Work, , Messaging/Storytelling , the Affordable Care Act, Medicaid, SNAP enrollment assistance, Civic Engagement, and Pop-up Health Fairs & Clinics.
Engagement Through Storytelling
Over the years, we’ve prided ourselves on our creativity and thinking of ways to connect with communities through arts and innovative practices. This has led to the creation of #HepBGirl and the HepBoo basketball fundraiser to support our hepatitis B efforts.
APCA’s most recent work has been centered around a mini-grant project generously funded by Hep B United – a national coalition to address and eliminate hepatitis B. The goals of the mini-grant were to help establish or contribute to hepatitis B prevention, education, linkage to care, and surveillance on a local level. APCA focused on education and empowerment by implementing the Hepatitis B Foundation’s (HBF) #justB storytelling campaign into the community.
The project timeline was based on the recruitment of storytellers, conducting storytelling events, and conducting the analysis. The biggest lesson learned is that recruitment can take the most time out of all of the goals. We were aware of the stigma around talking about the infection and wanted to conduct our work in an ethical, sensitive way. To do this, we worked with a provider who helped by offering the opportunity for their patients to share their experiences. The patients could then choose whether to contact us or not. We also assured those that chose to speak that we would not publish any of the stories without their explicit approval and consent. To respect participant time and efforts and reduce the labor required of them for the event, APCA took great care to do as many of the preparations as possible, simplify the questions being asked, and conduct the events in a manner that respected their emotional labor and centered their explicit consent.
Hepatitis B In Arizona
Centered upon vulnerable populations such as older Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) adults who were born before certain vaccine policies, APCA’s hepatitis B work includes addressing policy issues, access to care, and direct services. Direct services around hepatitis B included screenings, vaccinations, and referrals to care and treatment. In the past, APCA tested 2,869 people and found that 6.7% had active hepatitis B infections. An additional 31.2% were not vaccinated.
Arizona’s hepatitis B story mirrors that of the United States overall. From 2006 – 2015, an average of 979 chronic hepatitis B and 128 acute hepatitis B cases were reported each year in Arizona, though there has been a decrease in the number of acute hepatitis B cases identified in recent years.
The rate of new reports of acute hepatitis B was highest among persons aged 40-44 years. Chronic hepatitis B rates were highest among those 30-34 years.
The average annual rate of hepatitis B infection among Asians/ Pacific Islanders was much higher than other racial/ethnic groups (1,2).
Looking Towards the Future
The mini-grant opportunity will help to launch #HepBFreeArizona – a campaign aimed at eradicating hepatitis B in the state. We hope to continue working with those that shared their stories to help build our future hepatitis B program and get it to a level where we can provide a space for patients living with hepatitis B to lead the way. The same barriers that prevent community members from accessing care also hinder their efforts to get involved in advocating for the policy changes that will alleviate those barriers. We are always learning how to balance community member autonomy and valuing their labor with respect to the time and effort they contribute and not taking more than we are giving.
Thank you to Layal Rabat for serving as our guest blogger this week! If you would like more information from Layal or the Asian Pacific Community in Action, please visit their website or contact them here.
Layal Rabat is a third culture kid who has spent years practicing the fine art of parachuting into projects as the need for her skills arises. She takes an intersectional approach to her work and does not shy away from any cause where injustice is present and her contribution is welcomed and necessary. Her experience lies in project management, traditional and digital communications using all mediums from her own voice to videos to writing to tweeting, assembling audience-specific information for delivery in an infinite amount of ways. An infinitely curious researcher and an obsessive collector and assembler of information, she is often seen playing a supportive role in the background and amplifying the voices of those directly affected by injustice in her community. Fluent in English & Arabic, intermediate in Spanish & knows a tiny bit of Armenian. Current issues are immigrant rights and public health. With a BS in Psychology & an MA in Social Justice & Human Rights, she is currently working as the Empowerment & Advocacy Manager at the Asian Pacific Community in Action, and volunteering her time as IT/Web & Social Media Coordinator at Phoenix Allies for Community Health. She also volunteers with the Restoration Project, Phoenix, and serves as a board member with Sonoran Prevention Works. In her spare time, she enjoys listening to music (& karaoke), reading, writing, photography, and traveling.
References
- 2016, Viral Hepatitis Epidemiologic Profile for Arizona
- 2016, Arizona Department of Health Services
