Aboriginal people aren't seeing the full benefits of falling hepatitis C rates in Australia

Embargoed until: Publicly released: 2023-08-10 03:00

Australia; NSW; VIC; QLD

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Hepatitis C rates among people who inject drugs have dropped over recent years, but not as strongly among Aboriginal people, according to Australian researchers. The team used data from a study including 2395 people who inject drugs from 2018-2021 - 555 of whom identified as Aboriginal. Hepatitis C prevalence was 24% in both Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal groups in 2018-2019, however in 2019-2021 the rate was 21% among Aboriginal participants and 16% among non-Aboriginal participants. The researchers say more needs to be done to make sure Aboriginal people have equitable access to the interventions that are successfully reducing hepatitis C rates in Australia.

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Journal/
conference: Drug and Alcohol Review

Research:Paper

Organisation/s: Kirby Institute, UNSW Sydney, Burnet Institute, The University of Queensland, National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre (NDARC), The University of New South Wales

Funder: National Health and Medical Research Council, Grant/Award Number: 1103165

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