Hepatitis C Action Plan for England

Main Category: Liver Disease / Hepatitis
Article Date: 29 Jun 2004 - 15:00 PDT

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UK Chief Medical Officer, Sir Liam Donaldson, today published the Hepatitis C Action Plan for England.

The Government made a commitment to tackle hepatitis C when the Chief Medical Officer published his infectious diseases strategy, Getting Ahead of the Curve, in 2002. Later that year, the Department of Health consulted on proposals to strengthen services for prevention, diagnosis and treatment and improve epidemiological surveillance and research. Today's Action Plan sets out a framework to implement those proposals.

Sir Liam said:

"Hepatitis C has emerged as an important public health challenge over recent years, which requires intensified action to improve its prevention, diagnosis and treatment. The action plan we are publishing today sets out a framework of ongoing and new actions for the Department, the NHS and other key stakeholders designed to achieve this."

Hepatitis C is recognised as a significant public health problem world-wide. In England it is estimated that there are approximately 200,000 people chronically infected and the majority of these are unaware of their infection.

There is currently no vaccine against hepatitis C, so prevention of new infections is particularly important. There are increasingly effective antiviral drug treatments available that have been approved by The National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE). Lifestyle changes, in particular decreasing alcohol intake, can delay hepatitis C causing serious liver disease.

The publication of of the Hepatitis C Action Plan for England includes the launch of a professional awareness campaign with an information pack being sent out to primary care professionals. This will provide health professionals with essential facts about hepatitis C and assist them in offering advice about hepatitis C and assist them in offering advice about hepatits C and testing to patients who may have been at risk of infection.

Also being launched for health professionals and the public is the NHS hepatitis C awareness website www.hepc.nhs.uk.This will be followed in the autumn by a publicity campaign to increase awareness of hepatitis C, how to avoid the risk of infection, testing for hepatitis C and treatment.

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