Every year, 13,000 Taiwanese die from liver-related health problems, the majority of them caused by Hepatitis C infection. About 600,000 Taiwanese have Hepatitis C.
The News Lens
Date: 2016/07/28, Health
By: ZiQing Low
Taiwanese NGOs, including the Foundation for Advancing Treatment of Clinical Liver
Photo Credit: AP/達志影像
Disease (ACTLD), have joined the World Hepatitis Alliance in an effort to eliminate viral hepatitis by 2030.
World Hepatitis Day is celebrated every year on July 28, and is one of only four official disease-specific world health days. This year’s theme is NOhep. It follows the World Health Assembly in May, where World Health Organization (WHO) member states set goals to eliminate hepatitis as a public health threat for the first time.
The ACTLD is starting small by focusing on Hepatitis C, and working with the Kinmen County Government to implement the “Kinmen Hepatitis C elimination project.”
Tung-Hung Su (蘇東弘), an attending physician at National Taiwan University Hospital, said Kinmen was a good place to start elimination efforts, as the island only has between 50 and 100 patients and has good basic infrastructure already in place. New medication for Hepatitis C is also available. [FULL STORY]
