Health NZ (Counties Manukau) has begun offering free hepatitis C tests at pharmacies in south Auckland.
The blood-borne disease is the leading reason New Zealanders need liver transplants, as well a major source of liver cancer.
By Stephen Forbes of Local Democracy Reporting
The campaign targets people who have shared needles through piercings, tattoos or intravenous drugs use. Other risk groups include anyone who has had medical treatment in a high-risk country - including in parts of Asia, Africa or Eastern Europe - or a blood infusion before 1992.
According to the Ministry of Health, 50%–60% of people with the disease remain undiagnosed. If left unchecked, those with the condition will develop cirrhosis of the liver, which can progress to life-threatening liver cancer.
Hazel Heal is a patient advocate for Hep C Action Aotearoa, raising awareness about the disease she was diagnosed with in 1992. She welcomed the new campaign in south Auckland and said anything which can raise awareness about the debilitating disease is a good thing.
“You often don’t know until you are really sick, but that’s often too late,” Heal said. “I found out I had hepatitis C when I was pregnant. I had apparently had it for a number of years, but it was a terrible shock at the time.”
She said she suffered from fatigue and psoriasis and also had other health issues, but didn’t associate the symptoms with hepatitis C. Heal said she’s never established how she contracted it.
There was no available treatment for the disease in New Zealand at the time, but she became one of the first people in the country to take a new treatment for hepatitis C in the late 1990s.
But it didn’t cure the disease and in 2015 she was told she would probably have to undergo a liver transplant, or come up with $250,000 for medication to avoid the operation. In 2016, Heal managed to source generic versions of the unfunded drugs through an Australian organisation called FixHepC and cured herself of the condition.
Heal said the new campaign in south Auckland is important not just to test those who might have it, but to raise public awareness.
She said because testing is free it will give people peace of mind and if they do have it they can get the latest treatments that are available.
Health NZ (Counties Manukau) project manager for pharmacy services Melissa Bentley said it was important that people get treatment and getting a test is the first step.
“People who find out they do have hep C are often relieved to know the reason for their tiredness or the symptom they have been experiencing and didn’t know why,” she said.
“The good news is that hep C is now easily curable. The new medication is a short, eight-week course of tablets which is very effective and is well tolerated.”
Health NZ estimates at least 3500 people in south Auckland have the disease.
“We want to find who has hepatitis C, and cure them. It may save their life,” a spokesperson said.
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