About 2000 people in the Illawarra are walking around with a chronic disease they no longer need to live with, because they don't know they've got it or have not come forward to access a simple, painless cure.
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But the local health district is hoping to change that, with the launch of a new mobile health van which will educate people about the treatment and testing for Hepatitis C.
"We estimate that there are about 2000 people, who have had an experience in their past and they don't identify as being drug users - they may have shared a needle 20 years ago, they may have had a blood transfusion prior to 1990, they may have had a bad tattoo with unsterile needles," Illawarra Shoalhaven Local Health District (ISLHD) Director of Drug and Alcohol Services David Reid said.
"They perhaps don't know they've got Hep C, but they've got fatigue, they're unwell and they just feel lethargic and tired. So we want to let them know that there is essentially a cure."
If it goes untreated, hepatitis C can cause liver damage, failure and liver cancer. It is also the most common reason people need a liver transplant.
Five years ago, the treatment for the liver disease changed from being long and painful with a cure rate as low as 40 per cent, to being a simple course of antivirals with limited side effects that has a 95 per cent cure rate.
"A lot of people, we think, are reluctant to take these now, because they heard about how horrible the treatments were in the past, but now the side effects are minimal and it's about 12 weeks and they have a great effect," Mr Reid said.
"Since their introduction in 2016, more than 1,982 of people living with hepatitis C in our local health district have commenced treatment.
"While this is a great step in the right direction, there are still approximately 2,000 people yet to receive treatment. Our goal is to educate people about their options and to ensure that testing and treatment is easy to access for those who may not seek it out otherwise."
That's where the new clinic on wheels, dubbed the 'C-Side Van', will come in, by providing hepatitis C testing, treatment and prevention education between Helensburgh and Milton.
"You can turn up, you can book in - and we have a point of care machine where you can find out within an hour what your blood result would be, and then you can get a treatment plan," Mr Reid said.
"We'll be going to community health centres, NGOs, Aboriginal organisations and council organisations, and we're happy to be invited anywhere the van can go. This is a brand new service, and brand new van and we'll be going wherever we can over the next year."
In July, NSW's chief health officer Dr Kerry Chant announced that the state has committed to eliminating hepatitis C as a public health concern by 2028, with the C-Side van designed to help meet that goal in the Illawarra.
"The big advantage to the health service is that we save an awful lot of public money by not having people having multiple hospital admissions, and sometimes even transplants," Mr Reid said.
"We estimate that in our district alone we've saved about $6 million in health costs by being able to treat people in an outpatient capacity like this."
He said getting the C-Side Van on the road was a team effort with local agencies who specialise in the fit out of emergency vehicles. A local Aboriginal artist, Jasmine Sarin, also contributed artwork for the exterior design.
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Kate McIlwain
For more than a decade, I've helped the Illawarra Mercury set the news agenda across the region. Currently I'm the paper's health reporter - covering the stories of Illawarra workers and residents in the wake of a global pandemic and at a time where our health systems are stretched to the limit.
For more than a decade, I've helped the Illawarra Mercury set the news agenda across the region. Currently I'm the paper's health reporter - covering the stories of Illawarra workers and residents in the wake of a global pandemic and at a time where our health systems are stretched to the limit.
