Madam Speaker, I am pleased to speak to Bill C-243. I appreciated the remarks of the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Health today. I hope his remarks mean that he will support my colleague's motion to make this item votable so that we can get on with the job of increasing awareness of hepatitis and all the problems it can cause. It is a preventable disease.
Awareness is very important if we are to get to prevention. As my colleague mentioned, we have with us today Joey Haché and his dad Joe. We acknowledge the work of members of the Hepatitis C Society, including the Hachés who have worked tirelessly and put a great deal of their own money, time and credibility into moving forward public awareness of this very important issue.
As has been pointed out, hepatitis is preventable, but prevention hinges on education and education brings awareness. That is why my colleague has been asking that May be designated hepatitis awareness month.
This is a non-partisan issue. It touches any family, any Canadian. We need to work together to try to address the situation.
Many people are not aware of the great deal of information about hepatitis. For example, there are a number of kinds of hepatitis: hepatitis A, hepatitis B and hepatitis C. We know about hepatitis C particularly, but a lot of people do not know that there are also hepatitis D, E, F and G.
It is interesting to note that chronic viral hepatitis in the United States, and we assume the figures are somewhat comparable here, represents the 10th most common cause of death. We are talking about a very big issue for Canadians and one which is appropriate for us to address in the House.
Hepatitis A can occur from contaminated water or foods being ingested. It can also be passed from person to person and from hand to mouth. That is why the kind of education that would take place in an awareness campaign such as my colleague is proposing would make people aware of these dangers.
Hepatitis A can also result from poor housing, poor water supplies and sewage treatment. These are major factors in periodic outbreaks of hepatitis A. Again that is why we need awareness. Then the public and legislators would be more aware of the need to deal with the issues of water safety, housing quality and poor sewage treatment.
If our citizens are not made aware of the ramifications of some of these issues and some of these public policy matters, they cannot apply the kinds of demand and pressure that provide checks and balances in our system.
According to the Minister of Health it is likely that considerably more than 100,000 Canadians have chronic hepatitis B. That is also a big issue for Canadians. We also have the situation with hepatitis C, which is passed on by the unsafe use of needles especially in drug use and to people who receive blood transfusions.
In 1990 donor screening for hepatitis C began. However, as we know and as we have talked about at some length in the House, there was a real problem with innocent Canadians becoming contaminated through blood transfusions that were not properly screened. Had we had the kind of awareness campaign my colleague is proposing, there would have been a great deal more knowledge that could have prevented some of the tragedies we have been talking about in the House and for which the government is being asked to compensate.
The Minister of Health also pointed out in his public documents that the cumulative burden of hepatitis C was large and its future societal and medical costs were likely to be high. This is another reason all of us should care very much about the hepatitis problem. The cost to society, to our families, and the demand on our medical system are high.
People with hepatitis C are at risk of consequences such as profound fatigue. At least half the people with hepatitis C experience profound fatigue. Some 25% experience sclerosis of the liver and liver cancer after having the disease for a number of years. Liver disease is related to hepatitis C infection and is the leading reason for liver transplantation in Canada. This is another costly procedure that could be prevented.
Then we have hepatitis D. Although 90% of active hepatitis cases are A, B and C, there are others. Hepatitis D tends to enhance the frequency and severity of the symptoms of hepatitis B.
Hepatitis E is often transmitted through contaminated water, and although it is not a huge problem here, it is both endemic and at times epidemic in the developing world.
More awareness can help us provide the assistance and the aid to people in other parts of the world, which could save a lot of lives and a lot of human misery. There is no specific treatment for hepatitis E. Again, prevention is very important. There is only a handful of hepatitis F cases, but again, it is a part of the disease of which we need to become more aware.
Hepatitis G is another uncertain phenomenon. There is uncertainty about risk factors. There is uncertainty about means of prevention. Its transmission through blood transfusion has been documented. We also know there is an increase in the prevalence of hepatitis G among groups that have frequent exposure to blood and blood products.
There are a number of aspects of this disease of which most people are not aware, and that awareness can be a key to prevention and to taking proper steps to deal with this disease and this issue.
In particular, we have had so many concerns about people with hepatitis C, which is the most common form of hepatitis. We need to be aware of the cost to society. When people have hepatitis C they have a very difficult time not only earning a living but getting the kind of insurance they need to protect their families, such as mortgage, life and medical insurance. It is very debilitating.
It also is something that is not properly provided for in our health care system. For example, in the Atlantic provinces there is a real shortage of trained medical personnel. There is money allocated for only one hepatologist in an area where there are 12,000 people infected with hepatitis, one doctor who has a specialty in a disease that affects 12,000 people in only one part of our country, the Atlantic provinces.
There are a number of other examples of funding shortages. If members of the public were aware of the need for better treatment and a better emphasis on prevention, these issues could be dealt with. I support my colleague's bill to declare May hepatitis awareness month and I urge the House to support it as well.