CHINA-B study: Cancer information compared to Hepatitis B information to INcreAse hepatitis B testing in Melbourne’s Chinese community

CHINA-B Study was a pilot and feasibility study that took place to i) compare hepatitis B testing uptake in people receiving a specifically developed education resource focussing on liver cancer prevention compared with a standard hepatitis B educational resource package, and ii) assess the feasibility and acceptability of method used to engage people in the education and testing program.

Objective

An estimated one-third of people with chronic hepatitis B (CHB) in Australia are undiagnosed, highlighting a need to increase testing. Chinese-born people living in Australia are one of the priority groups; they comprise around 2.2 percent of the total Australian population but over 27 percent of the population living with CHB.

To reduce the substantial disease burden from chronic hepatitis B, health promotion interventions that include information provision, communication and education are significant to empower affected communities to make better health decisions.

Timeline

July 2019–June 2021.

Approach

This project hypothesised that framing hepatitis B testing as part of liver cancer prevention may be more effective, acceptable and easier to understand than providing traditional hepatitis B information for communities at risk of hepatitis B infection.