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Date posted: 29 July 2014
An educational tool designed to help address high rates of hepatitis B has been launched in the Indigenous community of Galiwin'ku in the Northern Territory.
The Menzies School of Health Research said between 10 and 20 per cent of Indigenous people in northern Australia had hepatitis B and language had been a barrier to addressing the issue.
Indigenous health worker Sarah Bukulatjpi said it was important the new informational app was in her local language, Yolngu Matha.
'It is a big problem in this community because we've got nearly 200 people here that have got hepatitis B, and we've been screening hepatitis B in our community here,' she said.
'We need to know what the virus is, and it is important to my people to know how it can affect us.'
The lead researcher at the Menzies School of Health Research, Dr Josh Davis, said the team had been working with the community for several years to develop the app.
Source: ABC news