Advocate urges City Council to fund hepatitis B and C elimination effort

Janine Garriga, who identified herself as a hepatitis C mentor and support group educator, told the committee on health that "nearly 330,000 New Yorkers are living with chronic hepatitis B or C" and urged the council to sustain and expand funding for education, testing, treatment and care.

Garriga said the city's hepatitis work is producing results: she described recent declines in newly reported cases, saying the current counts reflect "the lowest level in a decade," but added that "we cannot stop here" because people are still becoming infected or remain undiagnosed or untreated. She asked the committee to approve an additional $2,760,000 for a total investment of $5,000,000 to ensure more New Yorkers are tested, treated and cured.

Garriga framed the initiative as an equity issue, saying infections disproportionately affect "immigrants, people with low incomes, people who use drugs, men who have sex with men, and those with histories of homelessness or involvement with the criminal justice system." She asked the council to continue investing in programs that meet people where they are and do not "leave them there."

The testimony was part of a public hearing in which advocates described program outcomes and urged baseline funding; no formal vote or budget decision was recorded in the transcript of this panel. The hearing acknowledged progress while emphasizing the need for sustained funding to reach elimination goals.