Author:
Lim Zhuo-zhi,Teo Jau shya,Tan Ah-Choon,Lim Teck Onn
Abstract
Abstract
Introduction
In 2016 the World Health Organization (WHO) had adopted a global strategy to eliminate Hepatitis B (HBV) by 2030 through five core interventions. One of which is the “cascade of care”, the continuum of services that persons with chronic Hepatitis B Virus (HBV) should receive as they progress from screening to diagnosis to treatment to chronic care. We determined the prevalence of the awareness and treatment of chronic HBV in Malaysia based on a large sample data from a screening campaign.
Methods
A total of 10,436 subjects participated in the HBV screening campaign organized by the Hepatitis Free Pahang Malaysia (HFP). Between in 2018 and 2019, HFP organized a total of 109 health fairs in partnership with local non-governmental organizations (NGO) to conduct HBV screening mostly in small towns and villages largely in the state of Pahang. All screen-positive subjects were recalled to undergo laboratory-based HBsAg and HBV DNA tests. Patients with confirmed chronic HBV were referred to local health services, while continued being monitored by HFP.
Results
We estimated 13.1% of Malaysian adults aged 20 or older with chronic HBV were aware of their HBV status, and of those only 0.7% had received prior anti-viral treatment, but among those with baseline HBV DNA level > 20,000 IU/ml, 15.6% were subsequently treated. Tenofovir disoproxil fumarate was the only medicine used on all treated patients.
Conclusion
Few Malaysian adults with HBV were aware of their infection and even less received anti-viral therapy. Concerted public health efforts are urgently needed to improve HBV screening and care cascade in order to meet WHO’s targets for HBV elimination.
Publisher
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Subject
Gastroenterology,General Medicine
Reference16 articles.
1. Wong MCS, Huang JLW, George J, Huang J, Leung C, Eslam M, Chan HLY, Ng SC. The changing epidemiology of liver diseases in the Asia-Pacific region. Nat Rev Gastroenterology Hepatol. 2019;16:57–73.
2. Lim ZZ, Teo JS, Tan AC, Lim TO. Prevalence of Chronic Hepatitis B and C in Malaysia- results from a community-based screening campaign. Preprint at medRxiv https://medrxiv.org/cgi/content/short/2020.04.30.20085944v1. 2020.
3. Global Burden of Disease Study 2010 (GBD2010). GBD Profile Malaysia. Available from http://www.healthmetricsandevaluation.org/gbd/country-profiles.
4. Ferlay J, Colombet M, Soerjomataram I et al. Global and Regional Estimates of the Incidence and Mortality for 38 Cancers: GLOBOCAN 2018. Lyon: International Agency for Research on Cancer/World Health Organization; 2018.
5. World Health Organization. Global hepatitis report, 2017. Geneva, Switzerland: World Health Organization; 2017.