The Health Promotion Administration (HPA) on Friday said it has launched an initiative to conduct hepatitis C screenings in prisons after the number of Taiwanese volunteering for check-ups failed to meet this year’s WHO targets.
Hepatitis C is linked to incidences of liver cancer, the
second-highest cause of death among Taiwanese, HPA Cancer Prevention Division director Lin Li-ju (林莉茹) said.
Photo: CNA
Taiwan is not on track to meet the WHO’s goals of diagnosing 90 percent of all people infected by the disease and beginning medical treatment for 72 percent of the demographic by 2030, she said.
According to government data, 5.4 million Taiwanese between the ages of 45 and 79 have been tested for hepatitis C as of August, significantly fewer than the desired number, she said.
Meanwhile, 189,000 people out of the millions of diagnosed hepatitis C cases have been fully treated, indicating that the nation has to treat 48,000 more cases to meet the 2025 target of curing 273,000 people, she said.
In response, health authorities are redoubling their efforts to spur Taiwanese to test for hepatitis, with special attention given to people undergoing dialysis, HIV patients or users of narcotics, HPA Director-General Wu Chao-chun (吳昭軍) said.
The HPA has launched an initiative to screen 10,000 incarcerated Taiwanese for the disease in collaboration with the Agency of Corrections, he said.
All new inmates reporting to prison would be screened for hepatitis C with the goal being to examine 10,000 prisoners before the end of next year, Wu said, adding that the HPA and its affiliated hospitals would pay the costs for now.
In addition, the private sector is being encouraged by a joint HPA and Ministry of Labor initiative to sponsor and promote health
checkups focusing on hepatitis, he said.
The HPA is working with partners in academia and medicine to map hepatitis C prevalence in Taiwan, said Kaohsiung Medical University Chung-Ho Memorial Hospital vice superintendent Yu Ming-lung (余明隆), who is the mapping program’s director.
Hepatitis C tests have been conducted on 55.7 percent of the targeted age group, but the major jurisdictions of Taipei, New Taipei City, Hsinchu and Kaohsiung reported a testing rate of less than half, he said.
While people only need to be tested once for the disease, substance users and other high-risk groups are recommended to go for yearly checks, Yu said.
Twenty-five percent of people with hepatitis C develop cirrhosis and 5 percent of cirrhosis cases result in liver cancer, the HPA said.
Taiwanese are entitled to one free hepatitis C test and the condition is fully treatable with medicine, it said.
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