With the technical tools to eliminate viral hepatitis C available, focus must now be directed on garnering the political will to fund elimination efforts and deploying a harm reduction approach that can meaningfully impact affected populations by meeting them where they are and preventing damage to liver health and well-being before it happens.

In this month's episode of Is Your Liver Healthy?, guest host Gina Bartes, Vice President at Global Liver Institute, is joined by Dr. Beth Meyerson, director of the Harm Reduction Research Lab and Beverly Benson McCord Endowed Chair of Nursing at the University of Arizona, and Dr. Richard Manch, Chief of Hepatology at Arizona Liver Health.

To view your state's Report Card for Medicaid coverage of hepatitis C treatment, please visit https://stateofhepc.org/ (US residents).

Why are organ donation and transplantation so important to people with liver disease? Hear from a pediatric transplant recipient and her transplant surgeon on the process, the challenges, and the importance of organ donation to community well-being!

This month's guests:

• Sophie Hansen, 2x Liver Transplant Recipient
• Dr. Manuel Rodriguez-Davalos, Transplant Hepatologist & President of the Society of Pediatric Liver Transplantation (SPLIT)

GLP-1s, or glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists, are a class of medications used to treat type 2 diabetes, obesity, kidney disease, and other conditions. These drugs mimic GLP-1, a hormone that affects insulin release, slows stomach emptying, and affects satiety. Early studies suggest that GLP-1 drugs can benefit liver health as well. Explore the basics and what liver patients should know about GLP-1s with this month's guests:

• Joe Naglowski, President & CEO, Obesity Action Coalition
• Dr. Janese Laster, Gastroenterologist & founder of Gut Theory Total Digestive Care

Patients with rare (liver) diseases need access to clinical trials, but those in rural areas lack access due to structural and geographic barriers – which affects opportunities and generalizability of data for everyone.

This Rare Liver Diseases Month, GLI is focusing on the issues affecting Rare & Rural communities. In this episode, hear from our guests on the challenges for rare & rural liver disease patients in their communities. Learn about our guests & their upcoming events:

Dr. Harsha Rajasimha - IndoUSRare

Dr. Cecilia Dueñas - PBC Research Foundation

Teresa Davidson - Mid South Liver Alliance

Kristin Hatcher - Global Liver Institute

Learn more about Global Liver Institute on our website.

Liver diseases pose a serious threat to communities all over the world. The scientific and medical community have many of the tools to treat and prevent liver disease, but a political will to operationalize programs to prevent, diagnose, and treat these diseases is necessary to turn the tide.

In this episode of "Is Your Liver Healthy?" guests from around the world join our host, Jeff McIntyre, to discuss the recently released 3rd edition of the Global State of Liver Health report and talk about what's next in their communities to improve liver health.

Guests this episode:

José Willemse, Former Executive Director & Patient Advocate, Dutch Liver Patients Association

Dr. Aleksander Krag, Secretary General of the European Association for the Study of the Liver & Professor/Department Chair in Gastroenterology & Hepatology at Odense University Hospital (Denmark)

Dr. Mahmoud Desoky, Consultant Gastroenterologist in Saudi Arabia

Dr. Viet Hang Dao, Vice General Secretary, Vietnam Association of Gastroenterology

Dr. Laz Ude Eze, Public Health Physician & Founder of TalkHealth9ja (Nigeria)

Dr. Manal El-Sayed, Pediatrician & Researcher, Ain Shams University (Egypt)

In "Is Your Liver Healthy?" the team at Global Liver Institute (GLI) bring stories about the factors and forces that affect liver health to liver patients and their loved ones.

In this preview episode, our host Jeff McIntyre invites staff from GLI, who will appear on future episodes, to introduce themselves and cast a vision for liver health in 2025.

Learn more about GLI and our work at www.globalliver.org