Indonesia’s Hidden Hepatitis C Time Bomb

published on September 10, 2013 in The Jakarta Globe

Aris was diagnosed with hepatitis C in 2001. For the previous four years, he had injected heroin daily. Sometimes he shared needles, syringes and other injecting equipment with friends, unaware that this practice can easily transmit blood-borne viruses like hepatitis B and C, and HIV, the virus that can lead to acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS).

“I didn’t know anything about safe injecting and harm reduction,” he said. “I was offered to be tested for HIV by a health worker, and thought, ‘It wouldn’t hurt to find out about hepatitis C, too.’ I tested positive for both.”

Indonesia has one of the highest rates of viral hepatitis in Southeast Asia. Aris is one of 28 million people in the country living with the hepatitis C virus. Of these 28 million, half could potentially progress to chronic liver disease, and over a third to liver fibrosis and liver failure or cancer. Hepatitis and other liver-related disease is a leading cause of death among Indonesians.

According to the Health Ministry, more than 7 million people across 21 provinces — or more than 2 percent of the country’s population — had hepatitis C as of 2007. People who inject drugs and live with HIV carry an especially heavy disease burden. Anecdotally, it’s estimated that over two-thirds of Indonesian drug injectors have hepatitis C, with about 60 percent to 90 percent of these also living with HIV. Co-infection with HIV more than triples the risk for liver disease, liver failure, and liver-related death from hepatitis C.

Claudia Stoicescu
The Jakarta Globe
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Indonesia’s Hidden Hepatitis C Time Bomb

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