DoH seeks agency to raise awareness of Hepatitis C

The Department of Health is talking to advertising and media agencies about a brief to raise awareness of Hepatitis C.

It is understood the review is in the early stages and a number of COI roster agencies have been approached to pitch for the business.

It is thought that the campaign will raise awareness of how to prevent the disease, which is an infection caused by a blood-borne virus, for which there is no vaccination. It is expected to outline symptoms, treatment and targeting the groups most at risk.

The DoH already supports a number of awareness and education resources surrounding hepatitis C, including a freephone information line and Web resources. It also has the ongoing FaCe It campaign, which recently included a photography exhibition supported by a member of The Beach Boys, David Marks, who has the disease.

The department is understood to want to raise the profile of Hepatitis C, given that around four out of five sufferers unaware they have the disease. The Government was last year criticised by Body Shop founder Anita Roddick for not doing more to raise awareness.

Roddick, who went public after discovering she had the infection, which she contracted following a blood transfusion a number of years ago, has since died.She called on the Government to step up its activity, offering them the use of her image to help.

The DoH is also currently hunting advertising and media agencies for a £12m, three-year awareness drive around strokes, which it cites as the third biggest cause of death in the UK after cancer and heart disease.