Positive Living North is celebrating World Hepatitis Day by hosting free testing and a barbecue.
About 73-thousand people in BC are living with hepatitis B or C, with many people not realizing they have contracted it.
“One of the highest risk groups right now is baby boomers and for hep C that is defined pretty broadly for people born between 1945 and 1975,” says, Kyla Turner, Community Health Educator. “They are at risk because it is a blood born disease and you only need to be exposed to someone else’s blood.”
Viral hepatitis accounts for 1.34-million deaths per year globally and with this free clinic, Positive living North hopes to help stop the spread of the virus.
“About 40 per cent of people in Canada who have hepatitis C don’t know that they have it,” added Turner. “It can stay in your system for about 20 years before you have symptoms. One of the things we are trying to get people to do is get the test, so they are aware of their status and get treated if they have it.
The testing is beside the Four Seasons Leisure Pool and ends at 4PM.
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