Health groups will make a joint plea today for federal funds to curb the spread of hepatitis B, a virus that affects up to 160,000 Australians.
The Australasian Society for HIV Medicine, Cancer Council, Gastroenterological Society of Australia and Hepatitis Australia warn more money is urgently needed to draw up a national strategy to deal with the disease.
The peak bodies will make the call in the wake of two new reports to be issued today at the Australasian Viral Hepatitis Conference.
A specialist in the field, Professor Stephen Locarnini, said hepatitis B affected tens of thousands of Australians and it was one of the leading causes of liver cancer.
''But unlike hepatitis C and HIV-AIDS, there is currently no government-endorsed national strategy or support for people living with the virus,'' he said.
''This is simply not good enough and we are calling for a strategy to be formed encompassing public awareness campaigns, guidelines for testing and counselling, community education, and strategies to increase treatment uptake.''
Hepatitis B is a virus that can spread from mother to infant, through sexual contact, through sharing needles or in health-care settings via contaminated needles or blood products. Up to 160,000 Australians have hepatitis B and up to 6000 people are diagnosed with the virus each year.
The Australian Researcher Centre in Sex, Health and Society says in the first report out today, ''There has been no systematic response to addressing the needs of people living with chronic hepatitis B.
''There are significant gaps in the evidence quantifying the burden of hepatitis B on individuals, the health-care system and the community as whole. Communities most affected by chronic hepatitis B in Australia are often affected by the virus in a context of highly disrupted lives, where access to health care services may have been non-existent, and where hepatitis B is not seen as a priority.''
The researchers' findings are based on face-to-face interviews, focus groups and a results from survey sent to 500 GPs 95 per cent responded.
The second report was prepared by specialists from the School of Public Health and Community Medicine and National Centre in HIV Epidemiology and Clinical Research, both at the University of NSW. ''Immigrants from highly endemic countries such as China, Vietnam and other countries in Asia and Pacific islands account for more than a half of chronic HBV [hepatitis B virus] infections,'' the report says.
''Higher rates of chronic HBV infection are also observed in indigenous populations, injecting drug users and men who have sex with men. HBV vaccination uptake in at-risk populations and HBV treatment uptake among infected populations are both low. A national hepatitis B strategy, encompassing public awareness campaigns, guidelines for HBV testing and counselling and strategies to increase treatment uptake, is required to develop an appropriate response to hepatitis B in Australia.''
Cancer Council NSW chief executive Dr Andrew Penman backed the call.
''Hepatitis B is one of the leading causes of liver cancer and the longer we wait to for the Commonwealth Government to take action, the more Australians we expose to the risk of liver cancer,'' he said. ''... the Government must step up to take urgent action.''