Photo: RNZ / Samuel Rillstone
Associate Health Minister Ayesha Verrall announced the government's action plan at a mobile pop-up testing clinic in Hamilton this morning, to mark World Hepatitis Day, in line with the World Health Organisation (WHO)'s global hepatitis strategy.
The plan includes:
Virtual registry and a surveillance system
Expansion of nurse-led clinics and mobile clinics
Increased testing and treatment
A national awareness campaign
The plan would cost $2.2m on top of the $7m already spent annually on the needle exchange programme and hepatitis C assessment and treatment.
The WHO defined elimination as reducing new chronic cases by 90 percent and deaths by 65 percent compared to 2015.