Posted on December 09, 2014
Source: Priyanka Uprety
Hello! My name is Priyanka Uprety, and I am a doctoral student at the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health. I am studying perinatal HIV infection, which is the transmission of the virus from HIV-infected mothers to their infants. When I started researching HIV, I was startled by how the US healthcare system works. So much money and so many resources are used to treat infected individuals, but very little is devoted to prevention. I joined Generation Tomorrow because I wanted to be involved in helping people make informed decision about their health. Knowledge is power!
I will be working with the Emergency Department at Johns Hopkins Hospital to launch and implement their first program for hepatitis C testing. During the upcoming months, we will be educating and testing patients at the Emergency Department and linking them to care. There has been tremendous improvement in the clinical treatment of hepatitis C infection. Today, there are extremely potent drugs available that have over a 90% cure rate with very little side effects. This is a new era for hepatitis C treatment since being cured of hepatitis C is also now attainable within a short time (just 12 weeks)!
Through Generation Tomorrow, I hope to raise hepatitis C awareness in the Baltimore community, especially in the Emergency Department, and teach people about hepatitis C prevention and the amazing treatment options that are available today.
