World Hepatitis Day held on 28 July is an opportunity to step up national and international efforts on hepatitis.
Although preventative measures such as donor and blood screening have increased blood safety and have virtually removed the risk of transfusion-transmitted infections in Australia, chronic hepatitis remains a concern in the genetic haemoglobin disorder community in Australia due to past infection and internationally due to still inadequate blood safety measures.
This World Hepatitis Day, we support the global call to eliminate hepatitis especially for those with genetic haemoglobin disorders.
Australia can’t wait to eliminate hepatitis!
Learn more at Australia’s World Hepatitis Day official website.
Hepatitis
Hepatitis B and hepatitis C are viruses that cause damage to your liver. They can be chronic, which means you could have them your whole life. Without treatment, they can lead to liver disease or liver cancer.
To see the latest statistics about hepatitis B and hepatitis C in Australia and why Australia can’t wait to eliminate hepatitis you can down load the World Hepatitis Day 2021 Factsheet using the button below.
Hepatitis B
In Australia, approximately 220,000 people are living with lifelong Hepatitis B and many are unaware they have the virus.
There is a safe and effective vaccine to protect you against getting hep B.
You can get treatment to manage chronic hepatitis B but not cure it.
Hepatitis C
In Australia, approximately 120,000 people are still living with chronic hepatitis C at the end of 2019 and many are unaware they have the virus or have not been fully diagnosed.
There is no vaccine to protect against hepatitis C, but there is an effective cure. The medicines known as direct-acting antivirals (or DAAs) are easy to take with as little as one tablet a day, no injections and most people experience few to no side effects.
Most people can get a prescription from their GP. They are low cost for people who have a Medicare Card.
2021 Hepatitis Australia Factsheet
This document provides some useful statistics and information for World Hepatitis Day communications, including some new data not previously available in the public domain.
