In action
World Hepatitis
Alliance President,
Michael Ninburg
speaks at Australasian
viral hepatitis
conference.
WHA President Michael Ninburg
addressed the 11th Australasian
Viral Hepatitis Conference in
August. The conference held at
the Adelaide Convention Centre,
focussed on the theme “No One
Left Behind”
Michael used his speech to
highlight the low diagnosis rates
globally and to speak about
the Find the Missing Millions
campaign.
“Viral hepatitis elimination will
not be achieved without involving
the people and communities who
are affected by the epidemics
Even if we treated everyone
who was diagnosed with viral
hepatitis, we would still only be
at the tip of the iceberg of the
global hepatitis burden because
only 1 in 10 people are aware of
their illness. Without an increase
in diagnosis we won’t be able
to progress to the next step of
elimination. We have parts of the
world that are struggling more
than others to test and diagnose
people, Australia is a notable
exception in this.
‘Find the Missing Millions’ is a
campaign to put patients and
the community at the centre of
the issue to address the barriers
to diagnosis. The first phase of
the campaign, launched in 2018,
looked to work with partners
and civil society to identify the
barriers to diagnosis, Phase two
will be looking to work with
some of our member states to
set up replicable projects that
will support countries find the
undiagnosed whilst keeping the
patient and civil society front and
centre of the elimination strategy.
Many Alliance members are
working hard to find the missing
millions, over the next few years
we will be working with them to
help grow those projects and gain
government backing.
I have been greatly impressed
by this Australasian delegation
which brings together, patients,
civil society and public health
clinicians, to really have a
vibrant discussion between
critically important groups in
getting to the root causes of
the epidemics of hep B and hep
C and most importantly the
solution on how we are going to
get to the target of elimination
of these viruses by 2030.
I think the focus on the patient
has been absolutely critical,
I think the organisers of the
conference have done a great
job at having the patient voice
front and centre throughout
the conference, and that
is one of the things that I
have appreciated more than
anything.”
Australia is one of the countries
leading the way, in part due to the
recognition of the need for access
to harm reduction for people who
inject drugs. This has been a huge
step in the right direction
“Viral hepatitis elimination
will not be achieved
without involving the
people & communities
who are affected by the
epidemics”
6 hep Voice September 2018
August 2018 7
hep Voice