WHO calls for a national hepatitis B immunisation program for Indigenous Australian adults

A new Australian report for the World Health Organisation calls for a national hepatitis B immunisation program for Indigenous Australian adults. Specialists say the group is significantly over-represented in hepatitis B cases. It is prevented with a simple three-dose course of injections.

But while Indigenous adults are one of the groups most at risk of being infected with hepatitis B, many are not protected.

 

A new Australian report for the World Health Organisation calls for free hepatitis B immunisations for all Indigenous adults.

 

Royal Melbourne Hospital infectious-diseases specialist Benjamin Cowie is one of the authors.