Govt launches Hepatitis C Care Day

Dewi Santoso, The Jakarta Post/Jakarta

With at least seven million people in the country infected with hepatitis C, increasing public awareness of the disease is one way to halt its transmission.

Not many people know how hepatitis C spreads, or how the virus that causes the disease differs from hepatitis A and B viruses.

"If we keep ignoring the disease, it will infect many more people," health minister Achmad Sujudi said, upon launching Hepatitis C Care Day last week.

From this year on, the Ministry of Health has declared Sept. 16 the day to focus on national awareness of the disease.

The World Health Organization (WHO) says 1 percent to 2.4 percent of the country's population (around 5.3 million) were infected with hepatitis C last year, with an estimated three to four million new cases emerging every year.

Hepatitis C is caused by the hepatitis C virus (HCV), which causes the inflammation of the liver. The virus is transmitted by contact with infected blood or body fluids.

Injecting drug users and babies born to infected women are among those vulnerable to the virus.

Symptoms of hepatitis C include jaundice, fatigue, dark urine, abdominal pain, loss of appetite and nausea.

Hepatitis C can be treated using Interferon and Ribavirin -- two drugs that are licensed to treat those chronically suffering the disease.

If not treated, hepatitis C can lead to long-term health conditions, such as chronic infection, chronic liver disease and liver cancer.

Unlike hepatitis B, hepatitis C is rarely spread through sexual activity.

There is no vaccine for hepatitis C as the virus produces a replica of itself at an alarming speed -- reaching 10 trillion what per day, while a vaccine is available for hepatitis A and B.

Hepatitis A is an acute usually benign virus that is not long-term, the disease does not recur once a person has had it.

The ministry launched a toll-free hotline number 0-800-140- 3063 for more information about the disease.

"We hope that more people will have access to information about the disease -- how to prevent and treat it," Sujudi said.

The ministry is also distributing brochures and leaflets on hepatitis C to community health centers across the archipelago.