January 2011 Hepatitis C New Zealand blog
This blog dedicated to memory of Bethli Wainwright
Bethli an Auckland woman whose liver transplant prompted her to set up a website for other liver patients has died.
Bethli Wainwright, 44, died in Auckland Hospital on Christmas Day 2010
Wainwright created a website for liver patients as she waited for her own liver transplant several years ago.
She said then she wanted to provide the information she was looking for as she waited for a transplant.
She also wanted the opportunity to make her donor family proud of the decision they had made “in giving me the gift of life”.
Wainwright also researched issues surrounding liver transplants, including her research paper entitled “Liver transplantation as a catalyst for change”. It covered the social and economic wellbeing outcomes for New Zealand patients who were given a new liver between 1998 and 2005.
http://tvnz.co.nz/health-news/battler-l … es-3989744
New Zealand Ministry of health still confused about counting Hepatitis C numbers
I was reading the Hepatitis C information page on New Zealand Ministry of heath web site.
http://www.moh.govt.nz/moh.nsf/indexmh/hepatitis-q&a
“How many people have hepatitis C ?
Worldwide about 200 million people have been infected with hepatitis C. More than 33,000 of them are New Zealanders. There are thought to be at least 25 new infections in New Zealand each week.”
Ministry of Health fantasy land : 25 new infections a week according to ministry of health?
Reality : But what does the ministry of health’s own public health surveillance actually say about the actual rate of infection ?
20 cases for the whole year November 2009 – 2010
The Institute of Environmental Science and Research Ltd (ESR) is under contract with the Ministry of Health (MoH) contributes to the national public health surveillance effort. Including Hepatitis C
http://www.surv.esr.cri.nz/
http://surv.esr.cri.nz/PDF_surveillance/MthSurvRpt/2010/201011NovDHBRolling.pdf
So New Zealand Ministry of health claim 1300 new case of hepatitis c per year but can only account for 20 new cases of hepatitis C per year.
Gee wonder which figure the NZ ministry of health use for planning? 20 the actual number of diagnosed new hepatitis C cases per year or the or the fantasy figure of 1300 new infections per year ?
The ministry needs to get real about accurately measuring hepatitis C. There is a huge gap between 1300 new cases per year and the 20 recorded cases.
In Australia there has been a recent push to establish needle exchanges in prisons
Fight looms on jail needle plan
BY BIANCA HALL
05 Jan, 2011 01:00 AM
The ACT Government is on a collision course with territory jail staff after indicating the nation’s first prison needle-exchange program could be introduced at the Alexander Maconochie Centre.
ACT Health Minister Katy Gallagher said yesterday that a new draft report of an 18-month audit of drug use in the AMC made a strong health case for a needle and syringe program within prison walls.
ACT Health figures show more than half of male inmates tested in June were hepatitis C positive. About two-thirds of women tested screened positive for the virus’s antibodies.
http://www.canberratimes.com.au/news/local/news/general/fight-looms-on-jail-needle-plan/2039520.aspx
Injecting hope into our prisons
ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR LYNNE MAGOR-BLATCH
A 2010 study found 33.6per cent of NSW male prisoners continued to inject while in prison, and at 90per cent, the rate of needle sharing was far higher than within the general community. This makes prisons incubators of disease.
Switzerland was the first country to provide a prison-based NSP in 1992. Since then, programs have been established in more than 50 prisons in 12 countries. This doesn’t mean that authorities have become lax on drug supply reduction.
In fact, results of these programs have not found an increase in injecting or other drug use.
They have, however, found decreased rates of blood-borne viruses, reduced needle sharing and even a decrease in needle stick injuries.
There is no evidence that a controlled NSP within the prison would threaten correctional staff safety. Rather, there is evidence that safety will be increased with a significant reduction in risky behaviours and a safer prisoner return on release to families and the community.
In April 2010, the Australian Health Ministers Advisory Council released three related hepatitis C and HIV strategies. In relation to prison-based NSPs, all three noted the appropriateness for governments ”to identify opportunities for trialling the intervention in Australian custodial settings”.
http://www.canberratimes.com.au/news/opinion/editorial/general/injecting-hope-into-our-prisons/2041494.aspx?storypage=0
Experts bolster calls for jail needle exchange
Anex chief executive John Ryan says until authorities can eliminate drugs from prisons, they have a duty of care to minimise the spread of blood-borne diseases.
“The international evidence and the evidence from around Australia is prisons are high risk environments, for particularly hepatitis C transmissions, we can’t rule out an outbreak of HIV transmission,” he said.
“People are injecting often after at least five others have used the needle, so we’re talking about extremely hazardous injecting practices.”
Mr Ryan says such a program would save the community a lot of money.
“For every dollar invested, you get four saved in the health budget. If you look at other issues, like loss of productivity, for every dollar invested you get a $27 return,” he said.
“The savings are massive and obviously we need to be making those sorts of savings in the prison system.”
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2011/01/14/3112618.htm
Will be interesting to see if needle exchanges are ever established in prisons in NZ ?
Looks like Teleprivar in likely to be approved for use mid 2011
Shasun Chem to launch ‘Hepatitis C’ in June-July 2012
The supply of the Hepatitis C drug to Vertex by Shasun Chemicals is set to take off earlier than anticipated. The product is set to launch in June-July next year. “Commercial supplies have already started and we are preparing for the launch this year,” says Vimal Kumar, Managing Director of Shasun Chemicals, in an exclusive interview with CNBC-TV18’s
Q: The markets expecting that your supplies of Hepatitis C to Vertex will begin very soon. By when can you assure your investors that those supplies will kick off?
A: I cannot give details. But yes, one of the products is in Phase III, the regulatory approvals are expected to be in place by April-May and the launch to set to happen somewhere in June-July next year. Commercial supplies have already started and this year, we are preparing for the launch.
Q: Can you give us a sense of how much things could get preponed, considering the developments that have already occurred?
A: Commercial supplies have already started. Our UK subsidiary Shasun Pharma Solutions should do a topline of about 39 million pounds which is up from 32 million pound. Overall sales would grow by almost 25% over in the UK.
Q: Just with specific reference to the deal with Vertex, the estimates are that the revenues could stand to generate USD 50 to 60 million and that could actually go all the way up to USD 1 billion plus. Is that your target as well?
http://www.moneycontrol.com/news/business/shasun-chem-to-launch-hepatitis-cjune-july-2012_510464.html
Top 10 Hepatitis C News Stories of 2010 according to m Alan Franciscus from http://www.hcvadvocate.org
http://www.hcvadvocate.org/presentations/Top%20Ten%202010.htm
Best of Health for 2011-01-19
www.hcv.org.nz