The Hong Kong Government recognises the public health threat posed by viral hepatitis. To provide a comprehensive strategy for reducing the public health burden, the Steering Committee on Prevention and Control of Viral Hepatitis (SCVH) formulated the Hong Kong Viral Hepatitis Action Plan 2020 – 2024 (The Action Plan).
The Action Plan is a milestone towards significantly reducing the burden of chronic hepatitis B and hepatitis C, with the ultimate vision to render Hong Kong free of chronic viral hepatitis.
The Action Plan adopts the four strategic axes, as described in WHO framework for global action: awareness, surveillance, prevention and treatment.
Awareness: To raise public awareness and knowledge of viral hepatitis, community engagement and awareness enhancement for hepatitis B virus (HBV) and hepatitis C virus (HCV) infections shall be tailored to the needs of different target groups, such as the general public, healthcare workers, at-risk populations, patients and their service providers.
Surveillance: The current surveillance on viral hepatitis will be continued. A set of 12 local indicators are also adopted for close monitoring of the progress towards the WHO targets and ensuring the comparability of the indicators over time.
Prevention: Mother-to-child transmission (MTCT) is a major route of HBV transmission in Hong Kong and thus preventing MTCT is the focus of prevention and control of hepatitis B.
Treatment: Access to treatment would be expanded by a series of programme, including (i) enhancement of treatment for hepatitis B, (ii) expansion of access to direct-acting antivirals (DAA) for HCV, (iii) Micro-elimination of HCV infection, and (iv) promotion of HCV testing in people who inject drugs.
