Last week, the National Viral Hepatitis Roundtable staff and Steering Committee held a strategic planning meeting in Washington, DC. During this meeting, we discussed the intersection between racial injustice and health inequities, particularly related to communities disproportionately impacted by hepatitis B and C.

We unanimously decided to take a picture of us taking a stand against racism. We posted the picture on our Facebook page and reiterated that we knelt in protest of racial injustice and its impact on people living with hepatitis B and C.

Our position on this issue is clear and has been stated publicly at the CDC Foundation summit on hepatitis elimination, our statement following the tragedy in Charlottesville, and at last week’s NVHR 15-year anniversary dinner.

We will not waver from taking this stand, particularly in the current environment where so many impacted communities are under attack – immigrants, communities of color, and people who use drugs, among others. If we don’t take a stand against policies and rhetoric that fuel racial injustice, we aren’t truly fighting viral hepatitis.