Paulina Quintao – Every year almost 10,000 out of one million people in Timor-Leste will suffer from hepatitis, according to estimates from the Health Ministry based on data from the National Blood Bank

Infection Specialist Dr Danina Coelho said hepatitis prevalence in Timor-Leste was highest in comparison to HIV/AIDS. Hepatitis is considered the seventh most deadly disease in the world.

She added every country considered hepatitis is the seventh deadly diseases in the world, including Timor-Leste. "What I know is that Timor doesn't have hepatitis medication [and] the government must import the medication for treatment," she said.

AlthoughTimor had the National Strategic Plan and the human resources to combat and treat hepatitis, entecavir and tenofovir, which are used to treat hepatitis, were still not available in Timor.

There are four strains of hepatitis: A, B, C, D and E – the most common type in Timor being hepatitis B.

Dr Coelho called on the Health Ministry to strengthen the capacity of the national laboratory and raise awareness among communities about how on the disease could be prevented.

Hepatitis is transmitted through blood, unprotected sex and from mother to child during birth. In order to prevent this, she said the government should take action and give the hepatitis B vaccine to newborn babies. Although there is no cure for hepatitis, it can be treated to prevent further complications.

Dr Coelho urged the Ministry to conduct national research on the prevalence of hepatitis in Timor-Leste, as accurate data was important to help the government combat the disease.

Meanwhile, Alola Foundation Program Manager Maria Imaculada Guterres said communities in rural areas still lacked awareness about infectious diseases, including hepatitis. "We should work hard to share information to communities," she said.

She said Alola had been raising awareness to communities in remote areas about infectious diseases, but more still needed to be done. During discussions, she said communities did not ask a lot of questions about hepatitis as they did not have a lot of knowledge about this disease.

Last year, the Health Ministry with the World Health Organization (WHO) established a hepatitis treatment clinic at the National Hospital but it is not operating effectively as it lacks the proper medication to treat hepatitis.

Source: http://www.thediliweekly.com/en/news/health/14086-data-shows-timor-leste-has-high-rates-of-hepatitis