Taiwan staged the 2024 International Conference on Elimination of Hepatitis C Dec. 12 in Taipei City, highlighting the government’s commitment to working with global partners to eradicate the disease by 2025.
Organized by the Ministry of Health and Welfare, the event was attended by academics and experts from Australia, Japan, the U.K., the U.S. and Europe. It included four sessions, with the former vice president and current Academica Sinica academician Chen Chien-jen giving a keynote speech on Taiwan’s strategies to eliminate liver diseases, and Chien Rong-nan, professor at New Taipei City-based Linkou Chang Gung Memorial Hospital and University, addressing the domestic status of hepatitis C eradication during the first session.
Philippa Easterbrook, professor at the Imperial College in London, and John Ward, director of the U.S.-headquartered Coalition for Global Hepatitis Elimination, discussed the progress of elimination efforts in Asia and around the world during the second session, while Taiwan participants introduced the country’s measures to treat high-risk groups during the third and experts from home and abroad shared best practices for combating the disease at the city, county and community levels in the last session.
MOHW Minister Chiu Tai-yuan said during his opening remarks that both hepatitis B and C cause around 11,000 deaths in Taiwan every year from chronic inflammation and other liver complications. The government is sparing no effort in adopting precision prevention, localization strategies and one-stop services to provide comprehensive and effective screening and treatment, he added.
Such work has been bolstered by the coverage of hepatitis C treatment under the National Health Insurance system starting in 2003 and the continued expansion of publicly funded screenings, Chiu said, adding that funding for the latter was raised again earlier this year, with over 6.66 million people receiving the test as of June.
Echoing his remarks, Wu Chao-chun, director-general of the MOHW’s Health Promotion Administration, said that Taiwan is performing well in the indicators proposed by the World Health Organization, including the current diagnosis and treatment rates, as well as blood transfusion and injection safety. He expressed hope that the country would eliminate the virus by 2025, earlier than the WHO’s 2030 goal, and share its experience with the world. (YCH-E)
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