There are hopes a new national strategy will kickstart Australia’s “lagging” hepatitis B eradication efforts.

New international data shows Australia is on track to eliminate hepatitis C by 2030 with research by US-based Polaris Observatory finds 14% of the approximately 202,000 living with chronic hepatitis C have now been treated thanks to a risk-sharing agreement between the federal government and pharmaceutical companies which made directly acting antiviral drugs available on the PBS.

But the same cannot be said for hepatitis B, according to Hepatitis Australia CEO Helen Tyrell, with one in three people estimated to be living with chronic hepatitis B not yet diagnosed.

Ms Tyrell said Australia would need to ramp up its response if it hopes to meet the goal of eliminating the hepatitis B by 2030.

While the nation has an effective infant and adolescent hepatitis B vaccination program, it’s concerning that only one in six patients diagnosed with the disease are being monitored for disease progression.

Meanwhile treatment rates sit at 6% which is well below the national target of 15%.

“Hepatitis B is clearly lagging well behind hepatitis C at present and Australia must accelerate efforts across the board,” Ms Tyrrell said.

“We are hoping that The Third National Hepatitis B Strategy, currently in development, will be the catalyst to both articulate and invest in a range of priority actions urgently needed to get hepatitis B on a track towards elimination by 2030.

“Improving community knowledge and diagnosis of those in higher risk populations is a top priority combined with regular liver assessments for all people with chronic hepatitis B to help stop progression to serious liver disease, liver cancer and avoidable deaths from this often-silent infection.”