As we approach Mother’s Day, which happens to occur during May’s observance of Hepatitis Awareness Month, it is an ideal time to learn more about hepatitis B and the important steps to that can be taken to realize the goal of eliminating mother-to-infant transmission of this preventable disease. Elimination of perinatal transmission of hepatitis B remains one of the principal goals of the updated Action Plan for the Prevention, Care, and Treatment of Viral Hepatitis, which details numerous actions to be undertaken in pursuit of this goal as well as specifies measures to monitor our progress.

To learn more about this important issue, review these prior blog posts by HIV.gov contributor Corinna Dan, R.N., M.P.H., Viral Hepatitis Policy Advisor in the HHS Office of HIV/AIDS and Infectious Disease Policy:

• Perinatal Hepatitis B: What Every Mom Should Know
• Eliminating Perinatal Transmission of Hepatitis B: More Than Just a Test

In addition, CDC offers a fact sheet, “Protect Your Baby for Life: When a Pregnant Woman Has Hepatitis B,” which is available in several languages as well as “Hepatitis B and a Healthy Baby,” an audio-visual presentation that explains why infants need to get the hepatitis B vaccine if their mother has hepatitis B. This presentation is available in English, Chinese, Vietnamese, Korean, Hmong and Taglish, and allows participants to read and listen along to the presentation.

Finally, this guest post from the Immunization Action Coalition discusses the importance of the nation’s birthing institutions adopting or strengthening their hepatitis B vaccine birth dose policies.