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Significant numbers of Māori have been showing up for testing in a new hepatitis C screening programme in the Bay of Plenty.
Hepatitis C is usually caught by blood to blood transmission, so risk factors include shared needles from drug use or tattooing.
University of Auckland Professor of Medicine, Ed Gane, a liver specialist at Auckland Hospital, says the testing is designed to pick up some of the estimated 50,000 New Zealanders who are living with the disease without knowing it.
It is also running in Wellington and the Kapiti Coast.
"In the Bay of Plenty area so far, and it has been going on for about 12 months, 40 percent of the people who want to come forward to be tested for hepatitis C and then go on to an assessment programme have been Māori so it is finally reaching into the Māori community and people are aware now of the risk factors and are coming forward to be tested," Professor Gane says.
Trials of a new generation of antiviral drugs are showing cure rates of over 90 percent when used in combination with existing Interferon treatment, offering hope to those affected by the disease.
Copyright © 2013, UMA Broadcasting Ltd
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