TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
More work needed to combat hepatitis, AIDS
Efforts to combat HIV/AIDS would be futile if thelives of those infected remain at risk due to hepatitis, a deputy minister hassaid
Change text size
Gift Premium Articles
to Anyone
Share the best of The Jakarta Post with friends, family, or colleagues. As a subscriber, you can gift 3 to 5 articles each month that anyone can read—no subscription needed!
E
fforts to combat HIV/AIDS would be futile if thelives of those infected remain at risk due to hepatitis, a deputy minister hassaid.
'We can't separate viral hepatitis from HIV/AIDS-related problems because Indonesia's HIV/AIDS epidemic is concentrated in its high-risk population,' Health Deputy Minister Ali Ghufron Mukti said.
It is estimated that 28 million people in Indonesia are infected with hepatitis B and C. Basic Health Research (Riskesdas) 2007 showed that the prevalence of hepatitis stood at 9.4 percent while hepatitis C at 2.1 percent.
Unlike other types of hepatitis, which can be caught via fecal oral transmission, hepatitis B, C and D can infect patients via parenteral transmission, such as sharing personal items used by those infected or through sexual intercourse.
Administering the hepatitis B vaccine to newly born babies was initiated in 1997 but a hepatitis C vaccine has yet to be developed.
'Hepatitis is an illness that can be prevented and cured,' Ghufron said.
