Let’s talk hep on World Hepatitis Day

Today is World Hepatitis Day, with Hepatitis Australia asking Australians to get behind the #LetsTalkHep campaign and start conversations about hepatitis.

This is especially relevant during COVID-19 as viral hepatitis, which can lead to liver cancer and directly impacts nearly 360,000 people in Australia, is also a pandemic.

Hepatitis B and hepatitis C are the most common blood borne viruses in the world, including here in Australia.

Despite some good progress Australia needs to ramp up its responses to hepatitis B and hepatitis C to meet its hepatitis elimination goals.

Carrie Fowlie, Chief Executive Officer at Hepatitis Australia says: “We commend Australian governments for their commitment to the global elimination of hepatitis B and C by 2030 and, as Australia’s national hepatitis organisation, we are to help governments and communities to achieve that goal.

“We need to keep the hepatitis B and C conversations alive this will challenge stigma and address gaps in our national response.”

“For hepatitis B we need to increase the proportion of people living with hepatitis B who have been diagnosed, and regular and timely access to care, and for hepatitis C we need to expand access to testing and cures in primary care.”

Data in the Viral Hepatitis Mapping Project: National Report 2018-19, to be launched on Friday, shows that Australia is no longer on track to meet the nationally agreed targets outlined in the National Hepatitis B and Hepatitis C Strategies 2018- 2022, which were endorsed by federal, state and territory governments.

Ms Fowlie says that government’s national hepatitis strategies implementation funding commitments can help get timelines back on track.

For more information click here.

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