North American Occupational Health and Safety Week (May 5-11) is a time to raise awareness about the importance of injury and illness prevention in the workplace! This week, we’re focusing on health and safety within the nail salon industry, specifically the risk for hepatitis B transmission and opportunities to increase awareness and education about hepatitis B among nail salon workers.

In the U.S., the nail salon workforce is comprised mostly of Vietnamese Americans, with many being immigrants. Refugee and immigrant communities are often susceptible to worker exploitation (including labor trafficking) and encounter cultural and linguistic barriers that may leave them vulnerable to occupational health and safety risks, including hepatitis B transmission.

During routine work, nail technicians may be exposed to a client’s blood or other bodily fluids. It is important for nail salon workers to take precautionary measures to protect themselves and their clients to prevent the potential spread of the hepatitis B virus. More importantly, the nail salon industry (including salon owners and state health departments or boards that regulate nail salons) should implement policies that support greater education, awareness, and prevention of hepatitis B transmission among its workforce.

In October of 2011, the American College of Gastroenterology urged the need for increased surveillance and information on disinfection and infectious disease prevention, particularly for hepatitis B and C in nail salons. Since then, no major research or analysis has been conducted to better understand hepatitis B transmission or the policies that protect nail salon workers. In a new report released by the Hepatitis B Foundation, “The Impact of Nail Salon Industry Policies and Regulations on Hepatitis B Awareness and Prevention,” we seek to further understand the nail salon industry landscape through analyzing state policies that govern nail salons and identify strategies to support increased hepatitis B education, awareness, and prevention.

WASHINGTON, D.C. (October 24, 2018) – Hep B United today released the following statement, commending Congress for working together to pass the Substance Use-Disorder Prevention that Promotes Opioid Recovery and Treatment (SUPPORT) for Patients and Communities Act. The legislation was signed into law by the president, following overwhelming bipartisan Congressional support. The legislation supports a range of services, programs, and funding, across multiple federal agencies, to help combat the nation’s ongoing opioid epidemic and related infectious diseases, including hepatitis B.

The SUPPORT for Patients and Communities Act brings together several pieces of legislation focused on different aspects of the opioid epidemic, from promoting evidence-based prevention strategies, to researching new, non-addictive pain management drugs, and expanding access to substance use disorder treatment.

WASHINGTON, DC (October 18, 2018) Hep B United strongly endorses the introduction of the Liver Illness Visibility, Education and Research (LIVER) Act of 2018. Introduced by Representative Nydia Velazquez (D-NY), the bill takes bold steps to increase investments in research, prevention, and awareness activities to address hepatitis B, which kills up to 1 million people a year, and liver cancer, which continues to grow in incidence and is the 2nd deadliest cancer worldwide. As hepatitis B is the major cause of liver cancer, research efforts to cure these two diseases are linked.

The LIVER Act will authorize $100 million a year for five years for prevention and awareness grants at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and authorize $45 million a year for five years for hepatitis B and liver cancer research at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The bill includes significant provisions that will support and accelerate liver cancer and hepatitis B research, and will: