Government of Timor-Leste

The Ministry of Health celebrated the World Day of Hepatitis with the theme "Together preventing hepatitis and its complications", at a ceremony held at Guido Valadares Nacional Hospital, in Dili, on July 28^th, 2015.

On the same day, the Director of the Hospital, Dr. António Gusmão, officially inaugurated the national centre for examination of patients with hepatitis.

José dos Reis Magno, Director-General of the Ministry of Health, explained that hepatitis is a disease with the inflammation of the liver, which causes pain. The factors that cause this disease are, among others, internal infections of genetic origin and the consumption of large quantities of chemical substances, which cause severe pain in a few minutes.

"It is very important that we know quickly that an infection of hepatitis virus exists in the body of a person. Many Timorese already suffer of this disease, similar to what happens across the world," said the Director-General.

Since 2009, Timor-Leste has detected more than one hundred people with signs of this disease. To prevent and combat the development of hepatitis, it is necessary to have access to good treatment, for which you need a special service where the Timorese can have examinations that detect these viruses. It is also necessary to promote vaccination, create habits of washing hands with soap before each meal, promote the consumption of good quality food, adopt protected intercourse and move away from the practices of drug injection," explained the Director.

He said that the health system in Timor-Leste has begun a specific policy for the prevention, control and treatment of hepatitis, with a view to reducing the transmission of this disease and the mortality it causes. "The national centre for examination of patients with hepatitis is intended to meet the needs of the people regarding specific medical assessment to this disease. This centre will provide all information on hepatitis, in order to educate the people in preventing the transmission of this disease," stated José dos Reis Magno.

In this ceremony, the representative of the World Health Organization, Rajesh Pandav, stressed that we must take advantage of the celebrations of the World Hepatitis Day to develop the awareness of the general public and, in particular, of those who suffer from this disease. According to him, it is urgent to promote the access to specialized services for hepatitis, to end the infection of this disease caused by virus in people’s lives.

He also stated that, with the centre for hepatitis of Guido Valadares Nacional Hospital, it is already possible to guarantee the care of the people who seek information or treatment for this disease.