Student leadership in public health advocacy: lessons learned from the hepatitis B initiative.

Increasing hepatitis B vaccination rates for Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders is a priority. Laws requiring vaccination prior to school enrollment have helped, yet many youths remain unvaccinated. The Hepatitis B Initiative (HBI), launched in 1997 and operated by public health and medical school students, provides free screenings and vaccinations to Boston's Asian American/Pacific Islander community, with a focus on youths. By October 2002, 997 HBI patients from Boston's Chinatown had received free hepatitis B screenings. Of these, 384 patients (39%) were deemed susceptible to the hepatitis B virus and provided with free vaccination.