Imagine that you have a unicycle, and this unicycle is your favorite mode of transportation.
You have a handful of friends around the country who also own and ride unicycles, but where you live, you’re the only one-wheeler to be seen.
Now imagine you go to a meeting in a far off land that brings hundreds of people from 80+ countries together to discuss—unicycles.
It’s comforting and uplifting to be among your tribe, isn’t it!
That’s what happened to me when I attended the World Hepatitis Summit in Glasgow, Scotland, last week.
Granted, I’m always talking to parents about hepatitis. Many of our families have children living with a chronic, viral hepatitis infection. Some parents have lost their child to such an infection. Treatment, treatment side effects, prevention, testing—these are all frequent topics at PKIDs.
But, to be with so many people representing organizations around the world hard at work on issues surrounding hepatitis, well, that’s why it felt like a homecoming.
Our hosts, the World Hepatitis Alliance (WHA) and the World Health Organization (WHO), did a bang-up job on this first summit. They and their partners, the Glasgow Caledonian University, Health Protection Scotland, and the Scottish government, made us feel welcome and provided a well-run meeting.
For five days, volunteers were everywhere, eager to help and always smiling. Seriously, they smiled the entire time. And word has it, most of them were out of bed by three o’clock each morning so they could be in place, ready to serve when we arrived.
Let me just say, there’s only one cranky person in all of Glasgow. He drives a white cab and hangs out at the SECC in front of the river Clyde. Every other Glaswegian treats you like a favorite cousin come to visit for a spell.
And the WHA members! A nurse from Wales and a physician from Egypt talked collaboration over lunch on Thursday, an attendee from Botswana gave funding tips to a few Americans as they all lounged around waiting for a passageway door to be unlocked, and the man from Pakistan impressed everyone with his sparkly evening attire at the Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum dinner.
Three vignettes from the thousands of interactions that happened at the World Hepatitis Summit this year. All of the members were eager and ready to band together in the fight against hepatitis.
So what did we accomplish at this week-long event? We found out we’re not alone—that we’re actually part of a strong global network fighting to reduce and, one day, eliminate hepatitis B and C infections.
We found our voice, and by closing our many fists into one, we found that we are mighty.
Join WHA. You’re not alone!
by Trish Parnell
