In our new report Rising Curve: Chronic Hepatitis B Infection in the UK, Hepatitis B Foundation UK calls on the Government to develop a hepatitis B strategy and action plan as a matter of urgency. Please support our call for action by writing to your MP. If you don't know the name of your MP, visit www.upmystreet.com/commons/l/ 

Here's a draft letter which may help!

Name
Address 1
Address 2
Address 3
Postcode

Date

Mr/ Ms Firstname Secondname MP
House of Commons
London
SW1A 0AA

Dear Mr/ Ms XXXXX MP,

I would like to bring your attention to the figures revealed in the Hepatitis B Foundation UK report Rising Curve launched in Parliament on 20th November 2007. This report exposes how the number of people with chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection in the UK has almost doubled since 2002, from 180,000 to 326,000 people. Most concerning is that the Department for Health continue to use the 2002 figures in planning their strategy to prevent and treat hepatitis B in the UK.

Hepatitis B is the most serious type of viral hepatitis and is more infectious than HIV or hepatitis C. Hepatitis B can be passed on through exposure to infected blood and bodily fluid, or from mother to baby at birth. Young children are more susceptible to infection with hepatitis B. If someone develops chronic hepatitis B, they are at increased risk of developing liver cirrhosis, liver failure and liver cancer. They need treatment with antiviral drugs which are not curative but they suppress the virus and reduce the likelihood that the individual will develop life-threatening liver disease.

As the number of people with chronic HBV infection in the UK has almost doubled, I believe urgent Government action is now needed to ensure infected people are identified and properly managed, and that new cases of infection are prevented. Hepatitis B Foundation UK are calling for a hepatitis B strategy and action plan which includes: a public education campaign to raise awareness of HBV infection; a reappraisal of the effectiveness of current vaccination policy; action to ensure that people who have chronic HBV infection are identified so that they can be treated for their own well-being and measures taken to prevent onward transmission of the infection; and a mapping exercise to provide a national picture of service provision related to HBV infection.

I urge you, as my local MP, to support these aims in any way you can and ask the Government to implement a strategy and action on hepatitis B as a matter of urgency.

Yours sincerely,

XXXXXXXXX