Australasian Society for HIV Medicine

The 2008 6^th Australasian Viral Hepatitis Conference in Brisbane was held back to back with the Australian Gastroenterology Week meeting and brought together close to 500 delegates. The theme of the conference was ‘Hepatitis B & C at the Crossroads’ and key findings were presented in the areas of basic science, epidemiology, public health, research, clinical medicine and community responses. Hepatitis B featured in presentations across all six streams.  

There are an estimated 160 000 people living with chronic hepatitis B in Australia and over 400 million people chronically infected with hepatitis B worldwide. The urgent need for a National Hepatitis B Strategy was apparent from the start and the call for this strategy resonated over the entire conference. Leading health experts called for urgent action from the Federal Government to fund a national strategy on hepatitis B. This call was supported by medical, research and community groups from the National Hepatitis B Alliance.  

The monograph ‘B Positive - all you wanted to know about hepatitis B: a guide for primary care providers’, produced by the Australasian Society for HIV Medicine and The Cancer Council NSW, was officially launched at the conference. The monograph was jointly launched with the ‘National Hepatitis B Needs Assessment’ produced by Advancing the Clinical Treatment of Hepatitis B Virus.

Related media articles and material:

Hep B falling under our radar, The Australian 25 October 2008 

Experts warn Federal Government must act on hepatitis B