While Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people comprise up to 3% of the Australian population, they accounted for a disproportionate number of hepatitis B and hepatitis C notifications in 2017.9
Data for hepatitis B and hepatitis C notifications by Indigenous status are available from only a limited number of jurisdictions, and therefore should be treated with caution as a national indicator (refer to About the Data).
Hepatitis B
At the end of 2018, it was estimated that 226,566 Australians were living with chronic hepatitis B and that 23% (52,211) of them were Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.10
In 2019, there were 5,840 new notifications of hepatitis B infection in Australia. About 2.2% were notified in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people (134 notifications).11
In 2018 the Hepatitis B notification rate for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people was about 1.5 times as high as for non-Indigenous Australians (27 per 100,000 compared with 18 per 100,000 respectively). Nonetheless, this represented a 40% reduction in notification rate since 2014 in the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community.10
In 2019, notification rates for males were almost two times higher than for females (32 per 100,000 compared to 18 per 100,000).8
The highest rate of notifications was observed in the age group over 40 years (58 per 100,000 in 2017).8
Remoteness
Notification rates were about four times higher for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people residing in Remote and Very Remote areas (66 per 100,000) compared to those residing in Major cities (16 per 100,000).8
Hepatitis C
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people comprise up to 3% of the Australian population, but about 14% (1,315 of 9,230) of newly reported cases of hepatitis C in 2019. It should be noted that Indigenous status notification rates in 2019 included 3,554 (39%) notifications not reporting Indigenous status.11
In 2019 the hepatitis C notification rate for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people (198.6 per 100,000) was about six times higher that of non-Indigenous Australians (31 per 100,000). There were 1,315 hepatitis C notifications among the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population in 2019, about 15% fewer than the 1,113 for 2015.10
Just over two thirds of hepatitis C notifications for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders in 2019 were for males (282 per 100,00 and 115 per 100,000 for females).11 The highest notification rate applied to the 25-39 age range (385 per 100,000 in 2017).8
Remoteness
Notification rates were about six times higher for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people residing in Major Cities (266 per 100,000) compared to those residing in Remote and Very Remote areas (46 per 100,000). Notably, while Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in Major Cities had notification rates eight times higher than for non-Indigenous Australians (266 per 100,000 compared with 33 per 100,000), the difference in notification rates by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander status was comparatively minor in Remote and Very Remote areas (46 per 100,000 compared with 32 per 100,000 respectively).8