Hepatitis Queensland staff: (from left) Jessie Badger, Stephanie Tugade, Clint Ferndale, Harriet Edmunds, Sandra Wortlehock, Lana Richardson
largely untreatable disease and the mostly commonly notified disease in Australia. 8,000 cases were reported in Queensland alone the previous year. For those that accessed treatment only 24 per cent received lasting benefit after undergoing three million units of interferon three times a week for six months. Jump forward twenty-one years and the landscape may have changed, but the organisation’s focus is still much the same. Now called Hepatitis Queensland to recognise an inclusive focus on all types of viral hepatitis, the organisation is still an active
12 • The Hep Factor • www.hepqld.asn.au
player in providing information, support and advocacy across the state. Having recently taken part in another successful World Hepatitis Day, we at Hepatitis Queensland are excited about the future and the real possibility of eliminating viral hepatitis within the next twenty-one years. With the availability of vaccines for hepatitis A and B, effective treatments for hepatitis B and a cure for hepatitis C, the elimination of viral hepatitis is within our reach.
In addition, the Queensland Government is finalising the Queensland Sexual Health Strategy 2016-2021 and complementary Queensland Action Plans 2016-2021 for HBV and HCV. Here’s to another twenty-one years of supporting Queenslanders who are affected by viral hepatitis.