HEPATITIS C EPETITION REPLY FROM THE PRIME MINISTER…
A big THANK YOU to all those that signed the epetition.
All that signed ,petitioned the prime mimister to accept that the current public hepititis c awareness campaign is not working,and that the rate of diagnosis is nowhere near enough to prevent thousands of avoidable deaths.We further petition the prime mimister to make it a goverment priority to do far more to diagnose the hundreds of thousands of people in the uk who still do not realise that they are infected with this potentially life-threatening disease and then provide dedicated funding for their care and treatment..
THE GOVERMENTS RESPONSE…..
The goverment recognise the importance of the hepititis c as a public health issue.we have set a clear national framework for action to tackle hepititis c in the hep c action plan for england.
there has been a significant annual increase in hep c diagnoses in england, reported to the HEALTH PROTECTION AGENCY through national epidemiological surveillance from approximately 5600 in 2002 to 7600 in 2005.other epidemiological surveillance data also suggest that diagnosis of hepititis c is increasing.
Increasing awareness and understanding of hepititis c among healthcare professionals and the public is a key factor in improving prevention,diagnosis and treatment.this is why we are funding ongoing healthcare professional and public awareness campaign using a range of methods of communication.
By the end of 2006/07,the goverment will have spent £4 million on raising awareness of hepititis c.we are keeping the nature and scale of the awareness campaign under review and are currently exploring the possilility of national advertising to boost the campaign…
IS THIS ENOUGH…..
http://www.number-10.gov.uk/output/page11170.asp
