Khairy: MOH mulling Hepatitis B screening among pregnant women receiving treatment at public facilities

Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin speaks at a press conference at the ministry in Putrajaya September 9, 2021. — Bernama photo

MIRI (Nov 27): The Ministry of Health (MOH) is considering conducting universal screening for Hepatitis B among pregnant women receiving treatment at all MOH facilities, said Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin.

He said this is in view of the extremely low awareness of Hepatitis B amongst Malaysians.

He said that based on the National Health and Morbidity Survey (NHMS) 2020, close to 400,000 adults (1.7 per cent) nationwide were infected with Hepatitis B and 350,000 adults (1.5 per cent) nationwide were living with chronic Hepatitis B infection.

“The findings also show that 1.4 per cent or 330,000 adults did not realise that they had been infected with Hepatitis B.

“It also estimated that close to 90,000 adults nationwide are infected with Hepatitis C and about 50,000 adults are unaware of the status of their Hepatitis infection,” Khairy said in a statement yesterday.

He said that MOH was in the midst of strengthening its promotional strategies by involving various agencies to improve health literacy among Malaysians.

This is in line with the government’s Healthy Malaysia National Agenda, which encourages a healthy lifestyle and environment sustainability to benefit the health and wellbeing under Keluarga Malaysia.

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