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, and so on.
Strong patient advocacy is critical for increasing the number of effective comprehensive national hepatitis strategies in place.
From February – 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 organizations will convene to discuss key topics and how viewers can use them in their national activities.
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 organizations can use global policy commitments as a lever for national change.
Registration:
Webinar 2: ‘How to interpret and leverage results for effective advocacy HCV Quest Global Patient Survey’
This 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 organize a survey and utilize the results for advocacy activities.
Registration:
Webinar 3: ‘Awareness as a policy lever’
The third 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.
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.
Registration:
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.
Comments