Money isn’t everything, but it does provide a convenient yardstick by which we can measure priorities. Investment in public health and scientific research for hepatitis B is essential. This is the message that the Hepatitis B Foundation took to Washington on March 13 when HBF was invited by Chairman David Obey at the request of Congressman Mike Honda to testify at the House Congressional Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services.

The country is faced with a major public health challenge that cannot be ignored. The recent outbreak at a Nevada clinic dramatized the risks of inadequate surveillance and control of chronic hepatitis. Treatments are revolutionizing care, but drug resistance is a problem that needs to be addressed.

Liver cancer is the fastest growing cancer in the U.S. and treatments are in the dark ages.

If we don’t act with urgency, more and more people will suffer! Increased funds are needed to strengthen the hepatitis B programs at the CDC and NIH. These two agencies have the potential to develop effective solutions, but lack sustained support, which is threatening to allow the problems of hepatitis B to come roaring back.

We should not, however, have to compete with other needy causes for the same dollars. Instead, we should come together and demand more funding overall for public health and medical research. Though the nation is at war, funding to treat and cure diseases makes sure we have a country worth defending!