T

he government has planned to soon publish practical guidance material on prevention of and treatment measures for Hepatitis in a bid to support its efforts in tackling the deadly viral infection, which remains excessively high in Indonesia.

Health Ministry director general of direct infectious disease control H.M. Subuh said here on Thursday that the guidelines for tackling viral Hepatitis could steer the fight against the disease.  

“I hope this guideline can be used not only by the government, but also by other stakeholders for their activities and initiatives to combat Hepatitis, especially in regencies and municipalities,” he told a media conference.

A tougher fight against Hepatitis would be important as no province, municipality or regency in the country was yet free from the disease, Subuh said.

Arranging a Hepatitis management guideline is one of the initiatives being carried out by the Health Ministry, which includes the establishment of a new sub directorate responsible for Hepatitis control.    

Hepatitis has been included as part of the country’s integrated disease surveillance program at community health centers, hospitals and private clinics since the 1990s. Under the program, the public should inform the government of any cases of Hepatitis discovered by the monitoring processes.

“It has not led to progress thus far because we could not follow up our findings due to the absence of an entity specifically responsible for addressing Hepatitis cases,” Subuh said.

To cope with the high rate of Hepatitis, the government prioritized Hepatitis as part of the responsibilities of the Health Ministry’s diarrhea and digestion infection sub directorate in 2010. “By having a special entity, I hope we can unite for a more concerted effort in fighting the disease,” Subuh added.

“It is significant progress in tackling viral Hepatitis,” Viral Hepatitis Working Group head Ali Sulaiman said.

He added that several times surveillance operations had been carried out to collect data on Hepatitis cases in Indonesia. “I did not know where to send the surveillance results for follow-up measures, however, as Hepatitis had ‘no place’ at the Health Ministry,” Ali told The Jakarta Post.

Indonesia still has an unusually high prevalence of Hepatitis B and C despite ongoing efforts to combat the deadly viral infection. About 5-10 percent of Indonesians suffer from Hepatitis B and C.

Indonesia has the third-highest number of cases of Hepatitis B and C in the world, with 30 million people infected, following only victims in India and China.

“It really amazes me that we have never been able to lower such high prevalence, which is partly caused by low awareness and poor attention to the dangers of viral Hepatitis, even though it can be prevented,” Indonesian Association for the Study of the Liver (PPHI) chairman Unggul Budihusodo said.

Giving newborns Hepatitis B vaccine may help curb the disease, as most of Hepatitis B victims are infected shortly after birth.

“In the long term, such intervention will help achieve a lower rate of Hepatitis,” Unggul said, praising the ministry’s policy of providing free vaccine to every newborn at community health centers.