ASHM Report Back
Clinical posts from members and guests of the Australasian Society for HIV, Viral Hepatitis and Sexual Health Medicine (ASHM) from various international medical and scientific conferences on HIV, AIDS, viral hepatitis, and sexual health.
HBV - the power of Yvonne
We first met Yvonne Drazic at the 2010 Viral Hepatitis conference, where she bravely presented her personal story of living with chronic hepatitis B.
It's wonderful to see Yvonne back again, now presenting on her current HBV research project (for which she's received an ASHM Junior Researcher Award). Yvonne's personal experience has been a major driver in her efforts to improve HBV awareness and care in primary care.
Yvonne's research project is an exploration of current awareness and practice in primary care in north QLD. Whilst recruitment of GPs into the project has proved a challenge (with Yvonne trying every trick in the book), initial results have shown we have a long way to go. Less than 50% of GPs surveyed would test Asian migrants for HBV and less than 30% would test Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander patients. When asked about their preference for education, the most preferred option was evening dinner updates with a surprisingly lack of appeal for videos...
Congratulations Yvonne - we look forward to hearing more.