Hepatitis Foundation Reception

Rau Rangatira mā, e kui mā, e koro mā, e huihui nei, tēnei aku mihi māhana ki a koutou.  Nau mai, haere mai rā ki te Whare Kawana o Te Whanganui a Tara.  Kia ora tātou katoa.  Distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, warm greetings to you all, and welcome to Government House.

I specifically acknowledge: Professor Chris Cunningham, John Hornell, and Sandy Milne; Chair of the Board, Chief Executive and Founder respectively of the Hepatitis Foundation of New Zealand.

It is a great pleasure for Janine and me to welcome you to Government House for this reception to recognise and celebrate the important work of the Hepatitis Foundation of New Zealand.  This year the Hepatitis Foundation of New Zealand celebrates an important milestone – its 30th anniversary.

In 2012, I was pleased to become Patron of the Hepatitis Foundation because I appreciate the vital service it provides to New Zealanders living with hepatitis.  Since then I have learnt much more about the prevalence of the virus both at home and abroad.  The facts are sobering.

I think New Zealanders would be stunned to know that worldwide, hepatitis still has a considerable presence, with 1 in 12 people affected.  And that there are 500 million people living with chronic hepatitis B or C worldwide, and that we lose 1.4 million people each year as a result of viral hepatitis. 

I think they would be alarmed that closer to home, many of the 150,000 New Zealanders living with chronic hepatitis B and C don’t even realise that they have it.  The virus is the leading cause of liver cancer and liver transplantation in New Zealand.

Tonight, we celebrate that in New Zealand we are fortunate to have people like Sandy Milne , one of the pioneering researchers into hepatitis B, and who is with us tonight.  Sandy started this work with Dr Chris Moyes in the 1970s and 1980s.

Their work and the mahi of others in our communities has been of huge benefit to New Zealanders.  For example, when the newly formed Hepatitis Foundation tested 93% of Kawerau’s population for hepatitis B in 1984, it became clear that the virus was highly endemic.  Young children were cited as the main source of infection.

In 1985, the Kawerau community funded a world-first low-dose hepatitis B vaccination programme.  95 percent of susceptible Kawerau children up to the age of 12 were vaccinated.  The success of the programme led to the decision to vaccinate all children across New Zealand.

In the same year, the Government began vaccinating new-borns of carrier mothers, and in 1990 New Zealand was the first sovereign nation to introduce universal hepatitis B vaccinations for all children.

The Foundation is to be applauded for its role in bringing about these changes – and for its subsequent work offshore in the Pacific and Vietnam.

From 1999 to 2002 the Foundation was again blazing a trail in the prevention and control of viral hepatitis infection.  This entailed the largest hepatitis B screening programme ever conducted.  More than 90,000 New Zealanders were screened, and approximately 10,000 people with chronic hepatitis B were identified.

The start of the 21st century saw the establishment of the free national long-term follow-up programme at the Foundation, which continues today.  It is successfully monitoring more than 16,000 people with chronic hepatitis B and more than 1,500 people with chronic hepatitis C.

Tonight, we are celebrating the Hepatitis Foundation’s achievements over the past 30 years.  It has delivered, and is delivering, on its mission to improve health outcomes for people living with chronic hepatitis B and C in New Zealand.

However, it is not resting on its laurels as there is still much to be done.

The Foundation’s goal is to increase the enrolment rate of the more than 25,000 people with hepatitis B and 10,000 people with hepatitis C, working in partnership with health providers.

I’m proud to be Patron of the Foundation because it epitomises core New Zealand values: a commitment to public good and care and support of the vulnerable.

I hope World Hepatitis Day on Monday 28 July will prompt New Zealanders to think about how they can support the Foundation in its long-term goal of eradicating chronic hepatitis in our country.

We can all make a difference, individually and collectively. As Archbishop Desmond Tutu said, 
“Too frequently we think we have to do spectacular things, and yet if we remembered that the sea is actually made up of drops of water, and each drop counts—each one of us can do our little bit where we are”.

So let’s together, with the leadership of the Hepatitis Foundation of New Zealand and health community, work to make sure that our family members, our friends, and those in our communities “Know it, test it, and treat it”.

Kia ora huihui tātou katoa