Hepatitis B
An estimated 219,800 Australians are living with chronic hepatitis B (CHB). About 31 per cent of these people are undiagnosed.
Early detection, follow-up and treatment of CHB is imperative to slow the progression of the disease towards cirrhosis, and reduce the chances of liver failure or liver cancer.
Our region
Due to the population distribution of people living with CHB, the Primary Health Networks with the highest number of people not engaged in care during 2014–2023 were North Western Melbourne, Central and Eastern Sydney, and Eastern Melbourne PHNs – each with over 7,000 people not in care, despite higher-than-average uptake.
How can we help?
Education and training
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- NWMPHN has developed a quality improvement toolkit to assist general practices boost screening and detection of hepatitis B among their patient cohort.
- HealthPathways Melbourne has a Chronic hepatitis B pathway with relevant, evidence-based information about testing patients at risk, monitoring patients’ hepatitis B and referrals.
- St Vincent’s Hospital Melbourne offers free, tailored hepatitis B and hepatitis C training for your team, anywhere in Victoria.
- Access the Australasian Society for HIV, Viral Hepatitis and Sexual Health Medicine (ASHM) Hepatitis B toolkit and Hepatitis B learning hub.
- NWMPHN webinar, recorded 15 May 2025: Hepatitis B screening – clinical and practical strategies for the general practice team.
The hepatitis B story
The hepatitis B story is a resource provided by St Vincent’s Hospital Melbourne.
It supports health workers to chat to patients with low health literacy about chronic hepatitis B and includes videos in different community languages, a clinician’s guide, an A4 teaching tool for health workers, and patient brochures in eight languages.
