Rising Curve: Chronic Hepatitis B Infection in the UK, published today by Hepatitis B Foundation UK, is calling on the UK government to develop a strategy and set in place an action plan to halt the upwards surge in chronic HBV infection in the UK.

David Mutimer, Reader in Medicine, Birmingham University, and Honorary Consultant Hepatologist, Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Birmingham said, “The report clearly shows that Britain is seeing a steady, ongoing and dramatic increase in the number of chronically infected people. Steps must be taken to deal with this problem, and to provide help to carriers of hepatitis B.  UK society needs to be educated about HBV, and people need to be aware that there is a vaccine which can protect against hepatitis B infection. This invaluable report clearly outlines the size of the problem and calls for the early establishment of a national action plan to help infected people and to limit the extent of spread of HBV in Britain.”

Eddie Chan, Director of the Chinese National Healthy Living Centre explained, “With a surge in migration from countries with a high HBV prevalence rate we are not surprised by these figures.  Britain needs migrant workers and in return Britain must set in place the infrastructure to deal with the changing health demographics.  Today we are joining with the Hepatitis B Foundation UK to call for the UK government to develop a strategy and set in place an action plan to halt the rapid increase in the numbers of people infected with chronic HBV.”