The Ministry of Health along with other organisations are launching an awareness campaign tomorrow to encourage Kiwis to be tested for hepatitis C.
Health Minister Dr David Clark says approximately 50,000 people in New Zealand have the condition but half of them "don't even know it."
The Hepatitis Foundation of New Zealand, the Health Promotion Agency, and the Ministry of Health are launching a brand new campaign, called ' Get Hep C Tested' to spread awareness about the condition.
“Hep C is serious – it can rob you of your energy, it can lead to liver cancer, and it can kill you," said Dr Clark.
“You can get hep C many ways, like sharing tattoo gear, but the most common is from sharing needles. So if you have ever injected drugs, even just once a long time ago, you should get tested," he said.
At the beginning of this month, PHARMAC began funding a new hep C treatment, Maviret, which has the potential to cure more than 99 per cent of cases.
“The biggest issue now is finding those people who don’t know they have the disease so we can treat them, and that’s why this campaign is so timely," said Dr Clark.
SHARE ME