AUCKLAND, Today: Patient advocacy group Hep C Action Aotearoa created a street poster campaign to let people know about hepatitis C and its amazing new cure, Maviret. One of the many whose lives were literally saved by this campaign, contacted Hep C Action’s Hazel Heal.
“We wanted to share a cool story with you about those posters that went up in Dunedin,” Heal emailed Phantom Billstickers.
“First, we made the Otago Daily Times and the 6pm News.”
“Then, a guy I know heard a bloke in the pub saying he’d had Hep C and was getting sick and tired. ‘Put down your drink and come with me’ he said, took him over the road to the alley where our poster was.
“I said, ‘read that, see your doctor’, and took a photo of him standing beside it.
“The guy did, next day, took the photo to his doctor who had already noticed the posters. But she didn’t know about Maviret or prescribing. The doctor looked it up then and there, the patient got a script, is on treatment, is telling all his friends.
“Every doctor is thought to have around 30 HCV+ patients but only 20% have any interest in treating it, so every new doctor is a big deal.
“The doctor looked it up then and there, the patient got a script, and is now … cured!”
“Hep C Action and other health experts think New Zealand now has a real chance of totally eliminating this insidious disease. Telling the public is the first step.”
Phantom marketing manager Ben Stonyer said: “And nothing reaches people where they live, shop, work and play like a street poster campaign.
If you have a good cause, a great product or simply a message you want the country to hear, talk to Phantom Billstickers today. Our posters cover the country, and sometimes they even help save lives.
“We’ve always believed in the life-changing power of communication, and we’re thrilled when we find out they’re discovering a life-changing health treatment simply because someone put it on a poster.
“Hepatitis C is a silent killer, so the first step is to make a noise about the cure.”
Around 50,000 people in Aotearoa have Hep C, which is caused by exposure to infected blood. They’re at risk of serious health problems, including liver cancer and cirrhosis – but many don’t even know they have the condition. They just feel tired and rundown.
“That’s pretty depressing but there’s good news,” said Heal. “Maviret is now fully funded by Pharmac, and it can cure almost anyone.”
Ed, too!
The life of M+AD ed David Gapes was in a slow, downward spiral from Hep C – until Prof Ed Gane and his team at the Auckland Hospital Liver Unit effected a permanent cure, in just a few months, with the miracle Maviret treatment (taken orally).
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