Is The Job Done? No, Not for Everyone Yet

The job I am referring to is the job to get everyone tested and linked to care, treatment, and cure. To clarify, ‘everyone’ is a big ask if we are talking about all people in the world who are affected by hep C. If, like me, you are one of the people who have had access to care and treatment and gone on to be cured, the job is by and large done as far as defeating the virus. Unfortunately, this is not true for everyone. There are many people in our world who have little or no healthcare at all, and that includes people where we all live, not just halfway around the globe.

The challenges in access to care

For those of us who have more advanced liver damage like cirrhosis, or any other damage or harms to our physical or emotional health, it can be still a day-to-say struggle to maintain good health and wellness. It is for too many made more difficult with lacking access to care caused by any number of things or barriers to access. Health equity is something we hear about often, and there is still much to do to improve things in that area, across the board. The institutionalized bias and stigma that many of us have either experienced or heard about, will take time and work. We need to address the policies that can cause and perpetuate these inequities, and that is an even bigger job/amount of work. Institutional and systemic bias is still on the advocacy landscape and to be fair, we have seen some improvements, and this is certainly a positive step. Those of us with lived experience (peers) need to assure that our voices are part of the process, and not in a token way.

How you can help

This is not everyone’s work to do, but some of us can play a part, however big or small. You may want to get involved in helping to affect change that is positive for others, but are not sure how. As a Peer Navigator, I have had lots of people ask me how they can get involved, and I don’t have a stock answer, but generally suggest they contact a local agency or affiliated organization where they live and could get involved as a volunteer. If you have some skills that one of these groups needs, you might be able to gain employment. If you have a clinical or medical background that is helpful, but not a prerequisite for contributing. The level of time you can give is up to you. Not every town or city has an agency or group in place. Like so many of our peers, perhaps a good fit is getting involved with an online group, of which HepatitisC.net is an obvious choice. Again, how much or how little you are able to participate is up to you.

We all have something to give, and how much or how little is entirely a personal choice, with no judgement attached.