Global Health New Zealand

Global Health New Zealand formed to 'get on with it' - real health delivery through "Cure-a-Country"- empowering Pacific Island nations to eliminate viral hepatitis (hep B and hep C), to meet the WHO target of 2030 for the world to do so. We have planned, fundraised and are completing this project in Niue, making it the first country in the world to do it. https://www.odt.co.nz/star-new...

We are able to raise substantial awareness by running this and are now seeking to rapidly scale up our model to other Pacific nations such as the Cook Islands, Fiji and Tonga. It is the best 'bang for buck' you can make in public health, as viral hepatitis affects 6% of the world and leads to myriad other health problems. Until the pandemic, it was the leading viral infectious killer, outstripping the more well known and better supported HIV, TB and Malaria. With funding, we can build on the extraordinary momentum we have created in a short time. We can save many lives, improve productivity, create a butterfly effect in the region and the world. "Cure-a-Country" inspires funders because it can be grasped- resolving what needs done inside a border, curing and treating people. https://www.stuff.co.nz/busine...

My life was saved by bravery and brains in 2015- I got generic hep C medication through an international buyers club set up by a hero, genius Aussie, Dr James Freeman. I'd reached deaths door when a news article led me to him. The price for what I needed was US$250k; he gets FDA approved generics safely to people for $1k. Since, we have worked together to reach thousands of others, saving and transforming lives like mine. I have given many media interviews and spoken at international conferences with Dr Freeman's support.

 Hep C is highly stigmatised, there are very few people who will speak up, no rock stars. I have become a global advocate and used my story to raise awareness of the cures and the global disaster of medication pricing.https://www.stuff.co.nz/nation...

I've launched the international symbol for hep C #hepcbutterfly https://www.stuff.co.nz/nation...  to combat stigma  and I've gone on to do a human rights law degree. I'm an advisor to NZ government on medication pricing and was made an Edmund Hillary Fellow for my service in 2019. I met a US global heath strategist, Pulitzer nominated journalist Victor Zonana, through EHF and with Dr Freeman we formed GHNZ January 2020.

Scale is huge. 6% of the world has hep C or hep B. Half of those are undiagnosed. Stigma is the killer- people don't want to ask for tests, doctors don't offer them, because of the stigma-and cost. Our public health hep campaigns melt away the stigma.

Access to medications is another big problem. Hep B meds, although not expensive, once begun, must be taken for life. Hep C meds, very expensive but available legally and reliably as generics to individuals under the WTO TRIPS Agreement, or to emerging economies health systems. 

Hep C is totally curable- only virus ever. Hep B mother to child transmission can be stopped by birth dose vaccination. Hep B onset can be controlled by cheap antivirals. These are the viruses that kill and impair the most people, that we have low cost tools for, yet no focussed connected strategies. 

We specifically: connect and liaise with the local health system, find a champion, train them, raise the money for tests, medications, paying staff extra hours, lab equipment, apply for ethics where needed, translate materials, supply posters, banners, t-shirts, organise media stories, photo ops, incentives, bolster tourist trade with publicity and empower neighbouring countries by example.

We're significant, courageous, effective disruptors on pharmaceutical pricing. Millions now have access to meds due to levers we've pulled.

We launched the international symbol for hepatitis C to combat stigma and  gifted it to projects- in Uzbek, Italian, French, Mandarin, Arabic etc

Our project is different because we are keeping it simple- curing a country at a time. Finding all the barriers in each jurisdiction and culture to elimination and working on overcoming them, until we do. In partnership with local health systems, utilising volunteer international telehealth experts to support staff and assist with sourcing medication and diagnostics at a low cost. 

Other than surgery, any doctor's primary tool is medication. diagnostics are important but no use without medication. Cure-a-Country recognises this important point and through hepatitis elimination, can demonstrate the utility of collective medication purchasing. We also fill the other huge gap- there are not enough doctors anywhere or specialists in the right place. With the new pandemic/understanding of telehealth, we can use our experience and provide expertise on anything medical to anywhere.

Viral hepatitis is so ignored and under-resourced. It is almost unheard of, whereas HIV, Tb, Malaria have very strong policy advocates and philanthropic support globally.

We are taking the list of nations that want to eliminate viral hepatitis by 2030, which is nearly all, around 160 signed up for the WHO target. We are starting to tick them off, responsibly, ethically, increasing scale. We are just a tiny group of determined humanitarians that understand first hand what it means to every single person who is diagnosed, cured, connected to care. 

I could not work full time my whole adult life. I got close to death. With treatment, it was like gravity had lifted. My life is a clear cut before and after. In my early fifties, cured, I felt decades younger. I am so productive now, 24/7. I understand the fatigue in people's lives, poor people, perhaps areas where they are cycling in and out of (high-risk) prison. The impact on families, communities, countries of this insidious  fatigue is enormous. It's within our power to lift that weight off people as it was lifted off me. It allows us to contribute, work, pay tax, volunteer, make better choices. 

GHNZ has the moving experience of witnessing thousands recover, hearing their stories. We must go onwards for others to be freed and to free up health budgets.