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With hepatitis now the leading killer among people living with HIV/AIDS in Indonesia, activists are pressing the government to find ways to provide cheaper medication for the disease.

“The price of hepatitis drugs is unbelievably high. Only the wealthy will be able to afford treatment, while many others will have to face the fact they will soon be getting liver cirrhosis or liver cancer,” Heru Widarsah, chairman of the Indonesian Network of People Living With HIV Network (Jothi), told a discussion on the eve of World Hepatitis Day, which is today.

Andreas Pundung Istiawan, from nongovernmental group Solidarity for Indonesian Drug Victims (PKNI), said that when he found out he had hepatitis C in 2007, he sought treatment immediately. “I had a weekly shot for a year, and the total treatment cost me Rp 210 million [$25,000],” he said.

Those infected with the virus need weekly shots for six months to a year, at a cost of Rp 2.5 million per injection.

Andreas said he was lucky to be able to afford the treatment, but many of his friends who were infected with both HIV and hepatitis C did not have the money for medication.

Unggul Budihusodo, chairman of the Indonesian Liver Research Association (PPHI), said hepatitis B and C had now surpassed tuberculosis as the most common opportunistic infections among people living with HIV/AIDS.

“People with HIV are more likely to have their hepatitis develop into cirrhosis or liver cancer, and it happens faster than in patients with hepatitis who are not HIV positive,” he said.

Tjandra Yoga Aditama, the Health Ministry’s director general for disease control and environmental health, acknowledged that the ministry had struggled to provide cheaper drugs for hepatitis patients.

“The price of the drugs globally is still high,” he said. “If we want to make them cheaper, we have to show the world hepatitis is a serious threat, so manufacturers will start producing cheaper drugs.”

Tjandra said he had been involved in discussions with global drug manufacturers to explore the possibility of producing drugs more cheaply.

World Hepatitis Day was proposed by Indonesia, Colombia and Brazil at the World Health Assembly in May last year, with the goal of making hepatitis a global health priority. The first World Hepatitis Day was on July 27, 2010.

According to the 2008 National Basic Health Study (Riskesdas) — the most recent year on record — an estimated 9.4 percent of Indonesia’s population of more than 220 million has either hepatitis B or C.

Andreas said accurate statistics and a comprehensive study of the efficacy of hepatitis drugs were also needed. “That way we can have a valid argument for the production of cheaper drugs,” he said.