HEPATITIS B

That this House acknowledges Department of Health estimates that 180,000 people in the UK suffer from hepatitis B; notes that the hepatitis B virus is one hundred times more infectious than HIV and that hepatitis B can lead to liver cancer and death; welcomes the recent launch of the B Aware Campaign by the Association of Nurses in Substance Abuse, the British Liver Trust, the Children's Liver Disease Foundation, the Hepatitis B Foundation UK and Mainliners to highlight the severity of hepatitis B; notes with concern that the number of cases of hepatitis B is increasing; calls on the Government to make vaccination freely available as required; and supports the B Aware Campaign's calls for national strategic action by the Government to improve the diagnosis, treatment and prevention of this serious disease.