All Articles

Hepatitis B Targets – Australia 23 years behind on care, 24 on treatment

Australia still has a long way to go to achieve its National Hepatitis B Strategy targets aimed at eliminating the disease by 2030. The latest report from the Doherty Institute’s …

8 November 2021

World Hepatitis Day 2021 – Don’t Wait

28 July is World Hepatitis Day. This year, Hepatitis SA is urging South Australians not to wait. The COVID-19 pandemic has seen people put off seeing their healthcare providers. Unfortunately, …

28 July 2021

Haemophilia and Hepatitis C: My Hepatitis Cure

Hepatitis C was one of the unintended results of haemophilia treatment before blood products could be tested for the virus. Gavin Finkelstein shares his story...

27 July 2021

The 2030 Accord

We live in a world built upon achievements. We have travelled to the moon, developed vaccines,  created the internet and even cloned life itself. Today we have the opportunity to create …

23 July 2021

Hep Can’t What?

In a rare alignment, the Australian 2021 World Hepatitis Day campaign is adopting the message of the global campaign. This year, both global and national campaigns are telling you: hepatitis …

21 June 2021

finger prick testing

Testing… Testing — New HCV testing technologies

Hepatitis C tests are getting easier. That’s the promise on the horizon as new testing methods are introduced or trialed. Current conventional hepatitis C testing consists of a blood test …

17 June 2021

Hepatitis B Treatment—not necessarily a life-long commitment

There is a common view that once you start hepatitis B treatment, you will be on it for life. This is changing. In recent years, numerous studies have been done …

24 January 2021

LiverWELL’s Aboriginal Healthy Living Guide: Helping you care for your liver and your mob

Caring for country and for collective wellbeing is something our First Nations have done for over 65,000 years. Hepatitis Victoria's LiverWELL program have launched a customised guide that offers Indigenous Australians multiple tips and current links to support healthy living.

16 December 2020

Two women friends in facemasks doing an elbow-bump greeting

COVID Etiquette

We all learn how to behave socially, and the rules vary based on our cultural backgrounds. We may shake hands, high-five, hug or air-kiss when greeting others.  In some cultures, …

11 November 2020

When treatment, and everything else, goes wrong: David’s story

I have been living with the hep C virus for over 30 years, contracting it some time in the mid-to-late ‘80s. In my late teens and early twenties I discovered that injecting various drugs was a wonderful form of escape.

26 October 2020

calculator, stethoscope and medicine bottles on white background

Release Hep Funds to Meet Targets

The Australian Government has used the delayed 2020 Federal Budget to commit to funding for several vital areas of hepatitis research, including pathogen genomics, prison-based interventions, and point-of-care testing. However, …

9 October 2020

Telling Your Story

Positive Speaker Kath Leane learns about autobiographical storytelling...

22 September 2020

Still Out There – hep C which has a cure & hep B which has a vaccine…

In these COVID-focused times, it is worth remembering that there are other viruses out there, active in our community. World Hepatitis Day reminds us that over 226,500 Australians – including …

28 July 2020

Newborn Resistance

Unlike other blood-borne viruses such as HIV and hepatitis B, the risk of a baby being infected with hepatitis C during the mother’s pregnancy or during birth is very low. …

2 July 2020

Hep C: the virus that can be cured – making ‘not ok’ a bit more ‘ok’

By Lisa Carter If you haven’t achieved some great new thing while in isolation, there is something wrong with you. At least that’s what some social media influencers would have us believe.  Motivational posts urging you to learn a new language, start a …

1 June 2020

Five Years of CNP Peers: Part 3

In this final instalment of conversations with Hepatitis SA peer educators, Margie, Penni, Justin and Sue reflect on the rewards they find in the job. Read previous instalments: Part 1 …

15 May 2020

Five Years of CNP Peers: Part 2

Second instalment of conversations with Hepatitis SA CNP peer educators — Bernadette and Justin talk about what motivated them to become educators to their peers. Read Part 1 here. Background: …

11 May 2020

Five Years of CNP Peers: Part 1

Among its other services, Hepatitis SA runs four Clean Needle Program (CNP) sites in Adelaide, at Hackney, Noarlunga, Port Adelaide, and Salisbury. Our CNP peer educators also attend rostered sessions …

29 April 2020

M-m-m-my Corona

Coronavirus has revived old anxieties for Elle. Anxieties she had lived with for decades and of which she was relieved when her hepatitis C was cured in 2016. She shares …

13 April 2020

Coronavirus and Hepatitis

People with weakened immune systems (e.g. people on immune suppressing medications, people receiving cancer treatments), older people especially those aged over 70 years, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and …

23 March 2020

Keep Calm and Carry Naloxone

Most accidental overdoses in Australia—especially South Australia—are from prescription drugs, mainly painkillers and sleeping tablets. Many of these deaths can be prevented with a drug that reverses the effects of …

5 March 2020

“I’ll have hep C treatment eventually.”

Opioid substitution treatment (OST) clinics are considered ideal locations for providing treatment for people with chronic hepatitis C virus infection who inject drugs, a vital priority group for achieving the …

14 November 2019

Talk to a Nurse

South Australia’s Viral Hepatitis Nurses are clinical practice consultants who work with patients in the community, general practice or hospital setting. They provide a link between public hospital specialist services …

6 August 2019

Hepatitis B Screening for People Receiving Cancer Therapy

An Australian expert panel of medical specialists have recommended that all people receiving immunosuppression cancer therapy be screened for hepatitis B. If you have ever been infected by hepatitis B, …

10 June 2019