TAIPEI, Taiwan -- Taiwan sees more
than 10,000 new cases of hepatitis C every year, the Taiwan Association
for the Study of the Liver (TASL) said Monday, calling on the government
to strive for universal screenings and easier access to oral
medication.
"In a village in Southern Taiwan, 70 percent of the community is diagnosed with the disease. Such rates are considered mad levels — almost unheard of," Charles Gore, founder and president of the World Hepatitis Alliance, told The China Post.
Gore said that while Taiwan was a world leader in prevention efforts against hepatitis B, its accomplishments in that realm had seemed to distract from the severe hepatitis C situation.
Following an Asian Pacific Association for the Study of the Liver forum on hepatitis C in Kaohsiung Sunday, public health experts gathered in Taipei Monday to call for efforts to raise public awareness about the disease and to reduce the stigma around and discrimination experienced by patients with the disease.
They also urged the government to seek to not only meet but exceed World Health Organization targets for hepatitis C.
Lowering the price of newly developed drugs and allowing access to medication through clinics rather than only specialists would help to effectively reduce infection rates, the TASL said.
"In a village in Southern Taiwan, 70 percent of the community is diagnosed with the disease. Such rates are considered mad levels — almost unheard of," Charles Gore, founder and president of the World Hepatitis Alliance, told The China Post.
Gore said that while Taiwan was a world leader in prevention efforts against hepatitis B, its accomplishments in that realm had seemed to distract from the severe hepatitis C situation.
Following an Asian Pacific Association for the Study of the Liver forum on hepatitis C in Kaohsiung Sunday, public health experts gathered in Taipei Monday to call for efforts to raise public awareness about the disease and to reduce the stigma around and discrimination experienced by patients with the disease.
They also urged the government to seek to not only meet but exceed World Health Organization targets for hepatitis C.
Lowering the price of newly developed drugs and allowing access to medication through clinics rather than only specialists would help to effectively reduce infection rates, the TASL said.
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