Hong Kong rolls out its first scheme dedicated to eliminating viral hepatitis

  • Programme worth more than HK$70 million a year will include subsidised antiviral treatment for some sufferers
  • Plan also aims by to reduce incidence of the disease by 90 per cent and deaths by 65 per cent by 2030

Nearly 600,000 people in Hong Kong suffer from hepatitis. Photo: Shutterstock

The Hong Kong government has rolled out a host of measures worth more than HK$70 million (US$9 million) a year under an inaugural blueprint for combating viral hepatitis with the goal of rendering the city free of the chronic disease and stamping out all mother-to-child transmissions.

The measures include subsidised antiviral treatment for hepatitis C patients and infected pregnant women, checks on the efficacy of vaccines given to newborns of such mothers, enhanced training for medical staff and more specialised nursing clinics, according to Secretary for Food and Health Professor Sophia Chan Siu-chee.

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