The World Hepatitis
Alliance is hosting a series of webinars on patient group advocacy over the
next few months. They are free to join. The information below has been supplied
by the World Hepatitis Alliance.
Harnessing patient power
to effect change
Patient group advocacy is a powerful force. More than ever,
patient groups from across disease areas are using advocacy opportunities to
effect change. This is particularly important in viral hepatitis which is
responsible for more than 1.4 million deaths each year, but which has
historically been consistently neglected by governments. Strong patient
advocacy is critical for increasing the number of effective comprehensive
national hepatitis strategies in place, and patient group involvement with
governments is crucial in shaping these.
The ability to engage policymakers and make change is
heavily reliant on identifying the right opportunities and making best use of a
range of tactics and materials to call on governments to develop strategies,
adopt policies, commit to increased funding etc.
From February to April 2016, the World Hepatitis Alliance
will host the ‘Tools for Change’ webinar series which will include three
webinars aimed at educating and up-skilling viewers on various aspects of
advocacy and the tools needed. A number of panellists, including
representatives from the World Health Organization, national governments and
member organisations will convene to discuss key topics and how viewers can use
them in their national activities.
The webinars will be hosted twice on
each respective date to accommodate attendees from different time zones.
Webinar 1: ‘Understanding
the Global Healthcare Sector Strategy for Viral Hepatitis: Driving national
policy change’, will be held on 16 February at 10.00 am
GMT / 19.00 pm
GMT. The webinar will discuss this first ever global hepatitis strategy and
how organisations can use global policy commitments as a lever for national
change.
Registration:
- Click
here to register for 10.00am GMT webinar
- Click
here to register for 19.00pm GMT webinar
Webinar 2: ‘How
to interpret and leverage results for effective advocacy: HCV Quest Global
Patient Survey’, will be held on 10 March at 10.00 am
GMT / 19.00 pm
GMT. It will discuss how useful surveys are for lobbying and campaigning.
It will also provide an introduction to the HCV Quest toolkit, which includes documents
and resources on how to organise a survey and utilise the results for advocacy
activities.
Registration:
- Click
here to register for 10.00am GMT webinar
- Click
here to register for 19.00pm GMT webinar
Webinar 3: ‘Awareness
as a policy lever’, will be held on 4 April at 10.00 am
GMT / 19.00 pm
GMT. This webinar will review how media is used to influence policymakers.
It will also provide information on how to build a global movement and an
overview of World Hepatitis Alliance’s plans to launch a global hepatitis
elimination movement this year.
Registration:
- Click
here to register for 10.00am GMT webinar
- Click
here to register for 19.00pm GMT webinar
This is a great opportunity to hear from leading experts and
to get first-hand examples of advocacy initiatives happening across the world.
The webinar series is free and open to all of the public.