Most people with hepatitis C can be cured in as little as eight weeks with a course of tablets. Despite this, many Australians with hepatitis C are yet to undertake the treatment and be cured. The main target of the project are people who know they have a current hepatitis C infection and have not started treatment.
Participants are required to re-test for hepatitis C and must receive a positive result before being referred for treatment. All participants will be compensated $105 for taking the test.
In addition, participants may be chosen to receive a reward payment for commencing hepatitis C treatment. This randomly assigned cash reward will range from smaller amounts up to $1000. The amount of cash reward offered will be randomly varied, with the variations providing data on whether there is a motivation “price point” – the level is enough to move participants to fill a prescription and start treatment.
All patients who complete treatment will receive a $75 compensation on receiving a sustained virological response (SVR) at four weeks post treatment. It is unclear if there will be follow up with participants who re-tested positive in the project but did not go on to treatment.
The primary healthcare prescriber may also be compensated. The GP “co-incentive” amount will depend on whether they are the participant’s own GP or are a “default GP” who is already part of the project.
People who have a positive hepatitis C result at least six months ago, but haven’t been on treatment, can sign up for the Motivate C project. Adults who believe they have hepatitis C and who haven’t been tested for the last four weeks are also eligible to participate.
Participants need a mobile phone to take part in this study as the whole process is SMS-based. Those who are interested will need to self-register via their phone. They will be allocated a navigator who will guide them through the process. The process is personalised and confidential.
The navigator, who is trained in clinical and consenting practices, will also act as interface between the project and the participant-nominated prescriber. Participants who don’t nominate their own prescriber will be referred to one by the project.
The project hopes to recruit participants through GPs and nurse practitioners who, they say, are “critical to the success” of the Motivate C project. Project organisers are urging healthcare professionals to review their patient records to identify people who have tested positive for hepatitis C but have not gone on treatment, let those patients know about Motivate C, and encourage them to sign up for the study.
Primary care providers are encouraged to refer the following people to the Motivate C project:
The University of Sydney is leading this national project in collaboration with researchers, healthcare providers and GP experts within the hepatitis C field. Funding for the project is provided by the Australian Government’s Medical Research Future Fund. The Motivate C study is approved by the Sydney Local Health District Human Research Ethics Committee (2022/ETH01681) and is now recruiting participants.
For more information about Motivate C visit: https://motivatec-project.sydney.edu.au/
]]>Come February 2024, the Community News publishes its 100th issue. In this retrospective, we take a look at how the publication has evolved over the years.
Hepatitis SA veterans, Deborah Warneke-Arnold and Fred Robertson remembered the early, heady days. “We had a tiny room at DASSA on Fourth Avenue, one project officer, Colin, and a one-day-a-week admin person, Julie,” Deborah recalled. “We were getting calls from people wanting more information. We thought, we’ve got all this information from the readings we’re doing, we should share it with a newsletter.”
The Hep C Community News started with an editorial group of five and enthusiasm jumping off its eight pages. (Read issue #1) Sections included Book Review, Real Life, Diet, and a Dear Doctor column with replies from Dr Robina Creaser, and occasionally, other relevant specialists.
The newsletter was rich with news on the Hepatitis C Council SA (HCCSA) and its support group activities, as well as information on transmission, diet, treatments, legal rights and mental health.
Deborah joined the Council in 1997 and hadn’t looked back since. By mid-1999 she was editor of the Community News. “Doug Mellors [the writer behind Doug’s Desk] taught me how to look up information. I’d go to the Barr Smith library and spend hours there reading up on the latest research. I was so proud of my membership card. I’d be there, putting my head down, reading as much as I could, hoping people would think I’m a student,” she said, laughing.
“I was editor from issues 9 to 20. I learnt all my computer skills from working at the Council, especially on the newsletter – touch-typing and layout with Publisher. It was very much a community learning together.” (More Deborah’s story #16.)
Editorial group members working alongside Deborah included Doug Mellors, Sharon Drage, and Fred Robertson, with proofreading support from acting manager Leslie Whiteman. Subsequent issues listed HCCSA Coordinator, Kerry Paterson, as proofreader.
Deborah remembered key events reported in the magazine. One such highlight was the first Hepatitis C Awareness Day in SA. Issue 12 (Autumn 2000) reported on the Awareness Day launch by the Minister for Disability Services, Robert Lawson. Adelaide Mayor, Jane Lomax-Smith, facilitated a lived experience forum and Equal Opportunity Commissioner, Linda Mathews, launched a pamphlet jointly produced by HCCSA and the Commission. There was a pre-Awareness-Day education session run by HCCSA, the Drug and Alcohol Services Council, Marion Youth Centre and COPE; and HCCSA launched its brand new website on that first Awareness Day.
Remarkably, we learn from issue 44 (July 2009), that Dr. Jane Lomax-Smith again launched the Council’s hepatitis C awareness campaign, by then part of the World Hepatitis Day campaign. This time she was doing it as Minister for Mental Health and Substance Abuse, on behalf of Health Minister, John Hill. And coincidentally, HCCSA’s revamped website was also launched that day.
Perhaps the most striking difference between the very early Community News and now, is the lively community engagement: questions to the doctor, angry letters, thank you letters, personal stories and so on. The sort of thing that happen online these days.
Even within the first few years, however, as the information in the magazine got more comprehensive, even though letters to the editor continued to come in from time to time, spontaneous communication declined as the content answered questions before they were asked.
“The changes in the Community News pretty much reflect the changes that had to happen with the Council,” said Fred who was on the editorial and management committees, and had contributed many a book review as well as articles on complementary therapy.
“The changes in the organisation were inevitable – it’s a natural growth and progression from an ad hoc community group to a professional NGO that can influence decisions that affect the community.”
He remembered turning up at the Council for information and feeling so welcome that he joined as a member and a volunteer. “It’s different now but it also means things are done with professional staffing, with greater awareness of rules and guidelines which means as an organisation we can do more,” he said.
Fred said the Community News has become more professional in presentation and content, as befits the flagship publication of a peak service organisation. “We lose some spontaneity in the process, but we also gain a lot – more credibility, access to decision-makers, more funding and greater reach,” he added.
There is no formal archive recording the history of Hepatitis C Council SA – now Hepatitis SA – but the Community News does a pretty good job filling that gap.
Its 99 issues to date chart the organisation’s growth from a small group of committed individuals with varying skill levels, to a peak organisation with highly skilled staff providing on-going support and services, reaching more people and having input into state-level decision-making that affects the hepatitis sector and community.
Read all 99 issues (bit.ly/hcnstack).
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Launched in March 2023, the Roadmap identifies priorities needed for the next two, five and ten years to reduce disease burden and rate of liver cancer, and improve outcomes and survival rates for Australians affected by the disease.
Among the actions recommended are:
Liver cancer is the fastest growing cause of cancer-related deaths in Australia, having rapidly increased in incidence and deaths in the last 40 years. The incidence of liver cancer has risen from 1.8 per 100,000 in 1982 to 8.7 per 100,000, and this trend is expected to continue unless steps are taken to prevent the development of the disease in people who are at risk.
While there are many types of liver cancers, the bulk of liver cancer cases are HCC. This means A significant proportion of liver cancers can be prevented by eliminating the transmission of hepatitis B and hepatitis C which are the leading causes of the HCC.
Early detection of hepatitis B and hepatitis C infection followed by treatment to cure for hepatitis C and monitoring with appropriate clinical management will go a long way towards reducing the development of liver cancer in people currently living with the viruses. Management of close contacts, with vaccination where applicable, and other harm reduction strategies to reduce the transmission of these two viruses will ultimately contribute to the lowering of liver cancer incidence.
Liver cancer risks also include behavioural and metabolic factors that are associated with other chronic diseases. They include excessive alcohol use, tobacco consumption and the excess accumulation of fat in the body. Accordingly, the Roadmap recommends the funding of preventive health actions for non-communicable diseases, especially around tobacco control.
… improving access for these communities by providing culturally-friendly support to help patients who are receiving HCC care, navigate the health system.
Recognising the higher risk of liver cancer in some population groups, the Roadmap has called for targeted education campaigns to increase liver cancer awareness in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities and culturally and linguistically diverse groups. In addition, it is calling for improving access for these communities by providing culturally-friendly support to help patients who are receiving HCC care, navigate the health system.
The Roadmap also pointed out the need to link collected data to surveillance and screening of liver cancer. Applying data around patient characteristics and socio-economic factors to liver cancer diagnoses and outcomes will support better identification of people at higher risk of developing liver cancer and facilitate measures to reduce liver cancer incidence and improve outcomes.
Cancer Council SA (CCSA) Manager of Prevention and Advocacy, Christine Morris, says CCSA welcomes the launch of the Roadmap and supports the Priority Actions outlined in the document.
“We are building relationships with key organisations to support activities that are already underway,” she said. “In future we will broaden our work in liver cancer control to focus on prevention, immunisation, advocacy and support. We hope to achieve this by building effective partnerships and working in culturally appropriate ways.”
She pointed out that CCSA’s current key services are in line with the Roadmap’s Priority Actions. This includes its confidential information and support line Cancer Council 13 11 20.
“It is open to anyone. People living with cancer, their families, carers and friends, the public, workplaces, and health professionals,” she added. “We can talk to you about the effects of specific types of cancer and how to cope with treatments and side effects, provide a listening ear for you to share your experiences, provide emotional and practical support and link you to a range of support services, such as legal and financial assistance and support groups.”
In addition, CCSA provides free, non-judgemental and confidential Counselling services for patients, their family and/or carers, including bereavement counselling. It also offers low-cost accommodation for patients and their carers travelling from regional areas to Adelaide for treatment and cancer related appointments.
The Roadmap to Liver Cancer Control in Australia was developed and published by Cancer Council Australia and funded by the former Department of Health, now the Department of Health and Aged Care.
]]>When they help the virus evade the effects of medication, we call these changes “drug resistance mutations” (DRMs), and they can make it much harder to cure infections. When a drug-resistant version of a virus becomes the dominant one, it can make a previously useful drug completely ineffective.
While multiple DRMs have been observed for all currently used antivirals, up until now it has not been known how this process actually allows the hepatitis C virus to overcome the effects of the medications. New research, published in Nature Communications in November, has started to dismantle this ignorance.
Many DAAs work by targeting a part of the hepatitis C virus called the nonstructural 3 (NS3) protein. The NS3 protein is created by hepatitis C to do a number of things, including allowing the virus to replicate in the human body. The research study, by Hang Zhang, Ahmed Abdul Quadeer (both based in Hong Kong) and Matthew R. McKay (based in Melbourne) looked specifically at the DAAs which target the NS3 protein, and found that a process call epistasis was significantly involved in growing drug resistance.
In simple terms, “epistasis” is like teamwork between different genes or mutations. Imagine you have a team of players in a game. The performance of one player might depend on how well another player is doing. If they work together well, the team performs better, but if there’s a problem between them, it might affect the whole team’s success. In genetics, it’s a similar process. Epistasis is when certain genetic changes or mutations work together in a way that influences how they function or how they affect a trait. So, it’s like the genes are cooperating or interfering with each other, and this teamwork can have a big impact on how things turn out, like in the case of drug resistance mutations in the hepatitis C virus.
The study showed that hepatitis C is extremely good at mutating under the selective pressure of antiviral drugs, and that the easiest way for it to do this in a way that makes the drugs work less well is by modifying genes that, by epistasis, affect the NS3 protein. This means that future antiviral research and development needs to focus on ways to overcome that. This might mean creating antivirals that affect other parts of hepatitis C than the NS3 protein, or perhaps ones which attack NS3 in a different way that mutations in other parts of the virus can’t overcome.
]]>“I found out I had hepatitis C in 2000 when a diligent and insightful GP decided to test me for it after she discovered I had hepatitis B back in 1975. I’d cleared the hep B then and didn’t think about it anymore. Didn’t know I had hep C,” she recalled.
“Well, when I got my hep C diagnosis, I started worrying about how long I would live for, and worried about passing the virus to other people. I’d look at pictures of the virus and thought it looked really scary.”
Because there was no effective cure back then, Maureen looked into, and tried complementary therapies. “I tried acupuncture, herbal remedies… with no results,” she recounted. Then, in 2009 because she had liver cirrhosis, Maureen was put on Pegasus.
“That went horribly wrong – I almost died.”
She kept a visual diary during the first treatment but had to stop because she became too ill. She had ended up in intensive care for nine days with double pneumonia and septicemia. “My bone marrow had stopped producing the vital blood cells to fight the good fight for me. Remarkably I survived, after I was not expected to,” she said.
“I had to go to St Margaret’s hospital to learn to walk again. My memory and comprehension was really bad.”
In 2011, she began a series of five self-portraits documenting her difficult journey to recovery. She named the series Waking the Dead. In her artist statement for an exhibition where her this series was presented, she said: ‘Waking the Dead 1-5′ documents my struggle to be present in the world as my consciousness dragged itself to the surface … I had to relearn thinking, comprehending, remembering, doing and to be able to stand up and walk again.
“I was attending an art group in Stepney, learning painting. The artwork was my way of processing all that,” she explained. “The series of five portraits was me coming back to life. It was almost like a spiritual experience.”
In 2015 she had a call from the Flinders Medical Centre offering her to be part of a trial of new direct acting antiviral drugs.
“The new treatment was different. The only side effect I had was insomnia. My asthma played up a bit, but it was manageable. I was able to continue to go to work.”
Life post-cure was… a tremendous relief. It was wonderful knowing that I’m no longer infectious, able to pass the virus on to others.
For Maureen, the difference in life pre and post cure didn’t relate much to how other people treated her, but more to how she felt about herself.
“I had internalised my stigma because I felt I was stupid … blaming myself. I thought, being a nurse, I should have taken more care. Now I’m cured, I don’t feel that self-blame anymore. I can put it all behind me.
“I hadn’t encountered much stigma overtly, from others. Mostly support in fact. I discussed my hep C with friends and family when I was first diagnosed. They only gave me support.
“Initially I chose not to disclose to my workplace that I had hep C. However, the Pegasus treatment went for 48 weeks which meant I had to take a year’s leave without pay due to the severity of the side effects.
“Even though the first treatment went horribly wrong, and I ended up in hospital for 10 weeks, the time off work and recovery really helped with my burn-out from work.
“After the horror of my first treatment, I had decided to take a positive attitude and accept that I had to learn to live with this chronic disease.”
“Life post-cure was… a tremendous relief. It was wonderful knowing that I’m no longer infectious, and not able to pass the virus on to others.”
A nurse for 47 years, 38 of them in mental health, Maureen continued working after clearing hepatitis C, until the COVID-19 pandemic hit.
“I took a couple of weeks off, and kept on taking more,” she said with a laugh. “That’s when I retired from nursing – in July 2020.”
After a three-year hiatus, unwinding and reviewing her new life, she’s ready to get back into work – not as a nurse but in other areas that draw on her lived experience and her relationship with art.
I was trained in acceptance and commitment therapy, and used that to give people skills to managing their own emotions and life challenges. Art was part of it…
“As a mental health nurse, I worked in many areas and in my last ten years, I was part of a SA Health community psycho-social rehabilitation team. We provided group programs on living skills, psycho-education, healthy living, fitness, recreation, youth programs, art, liaising with further education and community centres and many more activities. We also worked with the inpatient unit Cramond Clinic and an NGO return to work program.
“I was trained in acceptance and commitment therapy, and I used that to teach people skills to manage their own emotions and life challenges. Art was an important part of rehab as a way of looking at the world, identities, and so on. The people I really enjoyed working with were the carers.
“Art is a good way to help people process their experiences and emotions and being with yourself. A way to engage with people. A very good mindful exercise.”
In the three-year break, Maureen reviewed the paintings that she had done on her journey, and decided to set up a studio so she could paint more and run workshops from it.
She believes art is for everyone, not only those who are “artistic” in the conventional sense. “It can work for people who may not be usually interested in art,” she explained. “Like creating mandalas, for instance… it’s a way to engage with people, get people motivated. It can also be an outlet.”
Maureen said looking at her artwork brought back difficult memories but also gave her direction for the next chapter of her life.
“Emotionally it was a really difficult time. Hep C was such a big part of my life for so long. and I didn’t know for so long that I had it. Having access to the new treatment was really life-changing for me and clearing the virus was one of the best things that happened to me.
“When I look at the artwork it brings it all back and gives me a stronger resolve to make a contribution with my life.”
View more of Maureen’s artwork here.
]]>A ‘Hep Can’t Wait’ Asia Workshop took place in July this year, hosted in Hong Kong. Participants came from from 15 countries in the Asia-Pacific region, representing 32 organisations as well as community group members, people living with hepatitis, and other interested parties.
The workshop gave participants the opportunity to share good practice and discuss topics such as improving access to vaccination, testing, care, and treatment as well as the integration of hepatitis B with liver cancer and HIV-related services.
One of the key things that emerged time and again during the workshop was the pivotal role that communities play in the hepatitis response and the need for collective action to drive change. The elimination and treatment movements would be nothing without peer groups pushing them.
The consensus statement that follows was developed by workshop participants to provide a clear way forward for hepatitis C elimination in the Asia-Pacific region.
The Asia Pacific region is disproportionately impacted by viral hepatitis, accounting for approximately 70% of all viral hepatitis-related deaths globally. These deaths are driven in large part by hepatitis B, with approximately 150 million people in the region living with this life-threatening disease. Without care and treatment, hepatitis B is a leading cause of liver cancer and cirrhosis. However, no one should die from or be impacted by hepatitis B, it is entirely preventable.
The Asia-Pacific accounts for 70% of hepatitis-related deaths world-wide.
With a significant expansion of affordable and accessible vaccination, testing, care and treatment, we can reach the World Health Organization goal to eliminate hepatitis B by 2030 in the region.
People with lived experience and community groups are integral to driving the response by bravely sharing their stories, delivering innovative programming, challenging stigma and discrimination, advocating for policies to improve access, and supporting those living with hepatitis B. The ongoing involvement and leadership of people with lived experience and community groups is critical to achieving the elimination goals.
To drive transformative change within the region, countries must adopt a resourced public health response centred on human rights and the lived experience of people with hepatitis B. Within this response, we call for the following:
Hepatitis Can’t Wait.
See the consensus statement here.
]]>There is clear evidence that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples are over represented in many areas of chronic health conditions (including hepatitis) and that there are huge disparities in the social determinants that influence health outcomes.
It seems logical to give the relevant community a valid voice – to seek advice and information from the people at the centre of this situation and for there to be self determination in the formation and running of initiatives.
Here are some of the resources that give an overview of the health status of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and some of the social determinants that have had an impact on overall health status, as well as a selection of successful initiatives.
Overview of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health status 2022
Australian Indigenous HealthInfoNet, Perth, 2023. 103p. report and PPT slides.
A comprehensive profile of the current health status of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people including information about the social and cultural context of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health, social determinants, the structure of the population, and measures of population health.
bit.ly/ATSIhealthstatus2022
Liver disease in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People
Y. Tashkent, et al. Jn. of the Australian Indigenous HealthInfoNet Vol. 3.4. 2022. 28p.
Liver disease has been estimated to be the third leading cause of the mortality gap between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and non-Indigenous people due to chronic disease. Recent revolutions in the detection and treatment of liver disease make efforts to improve access to treatment and outcomes an urgent priority for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
bit.ly/ATSILiverdisease
Cultural determinants of Cracks in the ice webinar: working with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Communities to address methamphetamine use and eliminate sexually transmissible infections
Matilda Centre for Research in Mental Health and Substance Use, Sydney, 2022. 57 minute webinar.
This webinar discusses some of the important features of working appropriately with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities, and – while research alone is never enough – some of the ways these projects are seeking to make a positive difference by using a lens that takes into account the broader context of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander determinants of health.
bit.ly/ATSI_ice
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health roundtable
Lowitja Institute, Melbourne, 2014. Report and presentations.
The aims of the roundtable were to clarify what the cultural determinants of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health and to consider strategies that could assist in strengthening culture as a determinant of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health. The overarching themes identified by the roundtable included the need to learn to work with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and nations to rebuild their resilience and cultural sustainability.
bit.ly/lowitjaroundtable
South Australian Aboriginal health promotion strategy 2022-2030: strengthening and promoting the cultural determinants of health and wellbeing
Wellbeing SA, Adelaide, 2022. 28p. report
This inaugural strategy aims to support and strengthen the cultural determinants of health and wellbeing. For Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, we know good health and wellbeing is more than good nutrition and exercise. Culture, and the ability to practice it, must be strong. Aboriginal people require a culturally appropriate health system, underpinned by policies, programs and services across all sectors, that supports all aspects of health and wellbeing holistically. The Strategy was developed in consultation with the South Australian Aboriginal community in seven regions.
bit.ly/ATSIwellbeing22
Better to know
Australian Federation of AIDS Organisations (AFAO and the Anwernekenhe National HIV Alliance (ANA), Sydney, 2022. Website.
A sexual health resource for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. It provides information about common sexually transmitted infections (STIs), what to do if you have an STI and where to get tested. It contains information that deals with both men’s and women’s business. Produced in partnership with Anwernekenhe National HIV Alliance (ANA), an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community-based organisation.
bettertoknow.org.au
Viral: are you the cure?
Ilbijerri Theatre Company, Melbourne, 2022. 26minute film.
A short film made with mob for mob about navigating hepatitis C, created through an in-depth engagement process, including community workshops and yarning circles: “Ally and Kev live up in the flats. They’ve got their own little place, a brand new baby and dreams for the future. Life should be good but sometimes things don’t always go to plan. Meet Merv who hasn’t been feeling great lately, not for some years in fact. Years of tough luck, bad choices and hard living have finally caught up with him”.
bit.ly/viral_thecure
Deadly Liver Mob
University of NSW Centre for Social Research in Health, Sydney, 2021. Website
The aims of the Deadly Liver Mob program are to: raise awareness about hepatitis C, including transmission risk factors and treatment options, increase access to bloodborne virus and sexually transmissible infection testing and treatment by and for Aboriginal people, and provide a point of entry to other health services for Aboriginal people. This website contains information about how to adapt the model to suit local context.
deadlylivermob.org
Evaluation report: Young, Deadly, Free Project Evaluation – Phase 2
Sexual Health and Blood-Borne Virus Applied Research & Evaluation Network, Curtin University, Perth, 2020. 94p.
This successful project’s primary aim was to increase the uptake of sexual health screening in 15 remote and very remote communities. This was achieved through a multi-faceted design including a youth peer education program, a social marketing campaign, and the development and dissemination of a suite of 279 community education resources in collaboration with participating communities and project consortium members.
bit.ly/youngdeadlyfree_eval2
To view the entire collection of resources and information about Young Deadly Free go to youngdeadlyfree.org.au
The Education team ran several sessions in July and August, reaching at least 200 people from diverse communities.
They included the Aboriginal community at Maringga Turtpandi, the staff, women’s group and adult education classes at Community Access and Services SA (CAaSSA), English language students at TAFE Gilles Plains, as well as the Filipino community in the Riverland and in Adelaide with the Filipino Community Association.
Hepatitis SA Educator Shannon Wright said they had highly positive feedback at all events. “One Maringga Turtpandi worker said the session they attended had been the best education session they’ve had,” she recalled.
“Another worker said they used to be so scared of people with those viruses, and it was really good to hear about this to reduce stigma. They also appreciated our positive speaker Kath’s candour and courage in sharing her lived experience story.”
Most participants at the community sessions were able to answer questions about hepatitis B and hepatitis C, and after the sessions many confidently went on to take part in our online quiz. And participants at an English-language class at CAaSSA were pleased to hear that the quiz was available in languages other than English.
In addition, Chen Bin, Viral Hepatitis Nurse from Lyell McEwan Hospital, presented an interactive session with the Chinese community. Hosted by the Chinese Association of South Australia, the session was followed by a lively Q&A. All of the 48 participants said they had learnt new things about hepatitis B and would definitely attend a similar activity in the future.
Volunteers at Hope’s Café at Uniting Communities Norwood collected almost 60 entries, discussing the quiz questions with individual customers, many of whom were from disadvantaged communities.
On World Hepatitis Day itself—28 July—we had an all-day community information stand at the Arndale Shopping Centre, where we tested people for hepatitis C and spoke to others about hepatitis B vaccination, hepatitis C testing and treatment, and encouraged people to participate in the online quiz.
We also received 46 entries for a prison-specific hepatitis C quiz run across four sites including Port Augusta Prison, Mount Gambier Prison, Cadell and Mobilong. Participants called the Hepatitis SA Helpline to give their answers. In addition, there were internal competitions in the Adelaide Women’s Prison and at Port Lincoln Prison. Prizes differed at each site, and included Toblerones, notepads and pens, toiletry packs, Nescafe coffee sachets, beanies and sunglasses.
In 2023, Hepatitis SA had a go at getting public buildings to light up green—chosen as the colour of life, vitality and progress—on World Hepatitis Day. Of the 15 venues contacted, three generously agreed to “glow green” on or close to 28 July. Thank you to Adelaide Oval, Parliament House, and Unley Council. The Unley City Council was especially supportive backing up the green lights with social media messages.
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We acknowledge this Land was never ceded, that it always was, and always will be, Aboriginal Land.
Hepatitis SA supports the establishment of an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice to Parliament in the Australian Constitution. A constitutionally enshrined Voice to Parliament will give Aboriginal and Torres Strait people a say on issues that affect their lives.
Hepatitis SA Chief Executive Officer, Kerry Paterson, said the trauma of colonisation and racist government policies over generations have resulted in excessive socio-economic disadvantage for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
“Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are over-represented in the communities we serve including those in the criminal justice system, drug and alcohol services and those affected by viral hepatitis,” she said. “Decades of effort by governments to address the disparity has not closed the gap.
“The Voice to Parliament is a proposal from the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people themselves.
“We believe it is not controversial for governments to inform their decision-making by listening to experts. The experts on issues affecting Aboriginal and Torres Strait communities are leaders of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
“A constitutionally protected Voice to Parliament provides a permanent channel of advice to government through which Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people can have real input into decisions affecting their communities.
“We urge our members to make an informed choice in the Referendum on 14 October.
“If you don’t know, find out.”
READ MORE:
voice.gov.au (also available in other languages)
ulurustatement.org
www.yes.org.au
www.sacoss.org.au/campaign/main-site/uluru-statement-and-voice-referendum
www.aec.gov.au/referendums
Authorised by K Paterson, Hepatitis SA, 3 Hackney Road, Hackney SA 5069
In the wake of International Overdose Awareness Day (31 August), it’s worth noting that it is now estimated that in its first year alone, the Take Home Naloxone (THN) program has saved 3,000 lives.
The national THN program provides naloxone to anyone who may experience, or witness, an opioid overdose or adverse reaction for free and without a prescription. Since the THN program began on 1 July 2022, an estimated 3,001 doses have been used by Australians experiencing or witnessing an opioid overdose or adverse reaction, which is the equivalent of 8 uses per day.
Over 110,000 Australians are currently living with opioid dependence, and 45.7% of unintentional drug-induced deaths in 2021 involved opioids.
“The Take Home Naloxone program has saved Australian lives,” said the Pharmaceutical Society of Australia’s national president, Dr Fei Sim. “Evidence from the first year of the THN program shows that pharmacists are well-placed to provide naloxone, whether alongside a prescribed opioid or as a stand-alone supply.
“We are urging anyone taking opioids, or caring for someone who does, to have a conversation with your local pharmacist about having naloxone on-hand. We can also provide advice about identifying an opioid overdose and how to respond during an emergency.
“Over recent years we have seen more cases of illicit party drugs being spiked with acetyl-fentanyl which can cause opioid overdoses even in small amounts. The Take Home Naloxone program could save your life, or the life of a friend.”
Take Home Naloxone is available to Australians through their local pharmacist. We recommend calling ahead to ensure your local pharmacy participates in the THN program and has available stock. If you run into problems, give Hepatitis SA a call on 1800 437 222 and ask for Carol or a CNP Peer.
You can also ring and ask for more general information about naloxone or preventing overdose, or visit overdoselifesavers.org.
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