Asia-Pacific Consensus

Hep Can’t Wait is the international campaign launched by the World Hepatitis Alliance in 2021. Its aim is to highlight the social injustice and inequity caused by the current lack of action on hepatitis elimination, and focus on the positive action needed to meet the world’s 2030 hepatitis elimination goals.

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Hep B Trends Falling Short

The Viral Hepatitis Mapping Project looks at geographic variations in the prevalence of viral hepatitis across Australia, as well as access to care, to identify priority areas for response. It is a joint initiative of the WHO Collaborating Centre for Viral Hepatitis Epidemiology, The Doherty Institute and ASHM, funded by the Australian Government Department of Health and Aged Care.

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Life, Relationships and Hepatitis B

“Hello…hello,” the woman called to me. “Do you work there?” she asked pointing to the Hepatitis SA office. I nodded.

“Can I talk to you, ask you something?” she continued. She needed to get back to the hospital where she worked; her lunch break was almost over, so we spoke as she walked. Shui* told her story and gave me her contact details.

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Eliminating Mother-to-Baby Hep B Transmission?

Mother-to-child transmission of hepatitis B occurs frequently either in the uterus, through placental leakage, or through exposure to blood or blood-contaminated fluids at or around the time of birth. This form of transmission (sometimes called “vertical transmission”) is believed to account for between a third and a half of hepatitis B infections, and so a way to easily prevent it would do a huge amount to reduce the number of people living with hepatitis B in the long term.

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Hepatitis and Children: Part 2 – Hepatitis B and C

In our last post we looked at the mysterious new form of hepatitis affecting young children. But what about hepatitis B and hepatitis C, which are already well known problems for thousands of Australians? How do they affect children?

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The Prehistory of Hepatitis B

A new study has traced the evolution of the hepatitis B virus (HBV) from prehistory to the present, revealing dissemination routes and changes in viral diversity.

In a new paper in the journal Science, researchers uncover the evolution of HBV since the Early Holocene (roughly 12,000 years ago, when the human species began to dominate the globe) by analysing the largest dataset of ancient viral genomes produced to date.

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