Hepatitis C action plan launched

The Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safety has published an action plan for consultation on the prevention and control of hepatitis C in Northern Ireland.

Commenting on the plan, which was published on National Hepatitis C Awareness Day, Chief Medical Officer for Northern Ireland, Dr Henrietta Campbell, said: "The overall aim of our plan is to achieve a reduction in the level of hepatitis C infection in Northern Ireland. We also wish to make sure that individuals with the infection have the opportunity to be identified and receive high quality treatment.”

Injecting drug use is the main way by which hepatitis C is spread. There are however other, less common, routes of transmission, including sexual intercourse, mother to baby, and skin piercing and tattooing when sterile equipment is not used.

The Department is proposing ten areas for action, including enhanced public and professional awareness of hepatitis C infection.

Today's document will go out for consultation for 12 weeks, however, many aspects of the plan are already in train.

For example, in January 2004, the National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE) recommended the use of combination therapy with pegylated interferon, for the treatment of people aged 18 years and over, with moderate to severe chronic hepatitis C.

This specialist drug has already started to be introduced in Northern Ireland. Information materials for the public and health professionals are under development and will be available after the summer.

(MB)