The Health Promotion Administration (HPA) is considering expanding the eligibility for government-funded hepatitis B and C screening to include people aged 40 and older, and aiming to do that by July, HPA Director-General Wu Chao-chun (吳昭軍) said yesterday.
The WHO has set a target to eliminate hepatitis C as a public health threat by 2030, and while Taiwan is not a member, it has been making efforts to achieve the goal.
In 2020, the Health Promotion Administration (HPA) expanded government-funded hepatitis B and C screenings to offer a one-time, lifetime screening for adults aged 45 to 79, and for Indigenous people aged 40 to 79.
Photo: Lin Chih-yi, Taipei Times
The HPA last year increased the screening payment subsidy to NT$370 (US$11.31) as an incentive for healthcare facilities to provide the service, and it also offered rewards for referring people who tested positive for follow-up examination and treatment.
As of last month, more than 7 million people have received the screening and the liver cancer incidence in Taiwan has declined annually.
The incidence rate of liver cancer was 23.7 percent in 2022, lower than those of breast cancer, lung cancer, prostate cancer and colorectal cancer, Taiwan Cancer Registry data showed.
Taiwan has been making good progress in eliminating hepatitis C, Wu said.
The HPA expects the goal to be achieved this year and would send documents to an international organization to apply for hepatitis C elimination certification, he said, adding that there is still progress to be made in eliminating hepatitis C, and hopefully, it can be achieved by 2030.
Taiwan is the first country to carry out universal hepatitis B vaccination of newborns.
Liver cancer has long been the second leading cause of cancer deaths in Taiwan, and about 80 percent of people with liver cancer had been infected with either hepatitis B or C, Wu said.
As most people born before 1986 were not vaccinated against hepatitis B and therefore face a higher risk of infection, the HPA plans to extend screening eligibility to this group before they turn 45, he said, adding that early detection improves treatment outcomes and prognosis.
Expanding the government-funded screening program aims to encourage unvaccinated people and people approaching 40 years of age to get tested as early as possible, as waiting until age 45 might be too late, he said.
The HPA is planning a budget of NT$300 million for the initiative, which is expected to benefit more than 1 million people, he added.
Government agencies are working to complete the necessary administrative procedures, with the goal of launching the program in July, he said.
Taiwan is projected to lose a working-age population of about 6.67 million people in two waves of retirement in the coming years, as the nation confronts accelerating demographic decline and a shortage of younger workers to take their place, the Ministry of the Interior said. Taiwan experienced its largest baby boom between 1958 and 1966, when the population grew by 3.78 million, followed by a second surge of 2.89 million between 1976 and 1982, ministry data showed. In 2023, the first of those baby boom generations — those born in the late 1950s and early 1960s — began to enter retirement, triggering
One of two tropical depressions that formed off Taiwan yesterday morning could turn into a moderate typhoon by the weekend, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Tropical Depression No. 21 formed at 8am about 1,850km off the southeast coast, CWA forecaster Lee Meng-hsuan (李孟軒) said. The weather system is expected to move northwest as it builds momentum, possibly intensifying this weekend into a typhoon, which would be called Mitag, Lee said. The radius of the storm is expected to reach almost 200km, she said. It is forecast to approach the southeast of Taiwan on Monday next week and pass through the Bashi Channel
NO CHANGE: The TRA makes clear that the US does not consider the status of Taiwan to have been determined by WWII-era documents, a former AIT deputy director said The American Institute in Taiwan’s (AIT) comments that World War-II era documents do not determine Taiwan’s political status accurately conveyed the US’ stance, the US Department of State said. An AIT spokesperson on Saturday said that a Chinese official mischaracterized World War II-era documents as stating that Taiwan was ceded to the China. The remarks from the US’ de facto embassy in Taiwan drew criticism from the Ma Ying-jeou Foundation, whose director said the comments put Taiwan in danger. The Chinese-language United Daily News yesterday reported that a US State Department spokesperson confirmed the AIT’s position. They added that the US would continue to
The number of Chinese spouses applying for dependent residency as well as long-term residency in Taiwan has decreased, the Mainland Affairs Council said yesterday, adding that the reduction of Chinese spouses staying or living in Taiwan is only one facet reflecting the general decrease in the number of people willing to get married in Taiwan. The number of Chinese spouses applying for dependent residency last year was 7,123, down by 2,931, or 29.15 percent, from the previous year. The same census showed that the number of Chinese spouses applying for long-term residency and receiving approval last year stood at 2,973, down 1,520,
RSS