Doctors, liver specialist team up to better fight hepatitis in Alberta
Medical researchers in Alberta are collaborating with geographers to map hepatitis B hotspots to improve testing and specialist access. By identifying that many cases correlate with recent immigration, the team aims to better target public health interventions.
Why it matters
Data-driven public health strategies are essential for managing chronic diseases like hepatitis B, which can lead to severe long-term health outcomes if left untreated.
Hepatitis is a group of viruses that attack the liver, and like many public health issues is a complex problem requiring specialist expertise, awareness of the problem and co-operation across the health-care system.
For some physicians and researchers in Calgary, this meant identifying where cases were occurring, where testing needed to improve, and reducing the sometimes years-long wait to see a liver specialist.
“We should look into this because we have a significant burden, and unfortunately we know from the preliminary data that we are not doing a great job,” said Abdel-Aziz Shaheen, an associate professor of medicine and clinician scientist at the University of Calgary specializing in liver disease.
To better identify the problem he collaborated with colleagues in the geography department to map where cases of hepatitis B were most prevalent in the province.
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