Liver disease is a leading public health issue in Taiwan. 

On our islands, chronic hepatitis, cirrhosis, and hepatocellular carcinoma are three of the top ten causes of premature deaths.[i]  Each year at least 5,000 Taiwanese die from hepatocellular carcinomas, and 4,000 die from liver cirrhosis[ii].  Most of these deaths are untimely.  This is unacceptable.

 

We are the Taiwan Liver Research Foundation, and (in concert with Kaohsiung Medical University’s Department of Hepatobilary and Pancreatic Medicine, and Taiwan’s Ministry of Health and Welfare) we are committed to substantially reducing this long term, persistent scourge. 

 

This website is part of our outreach to the population of Taiwan.  

We would like to share our perspective, mission, and activities with you.

We hope you will find this website useful.

 

There are many real reasons for optimism.

Diagnosis and treatment of liver disease has improved a great deal in the last 10 years.  Older, difficult treatments have been replaced by easier treatments and much more effective medicines.   We want to make our new capacity widely known and widely accessible.

 

The most effective strategies to eliminate liver disease (hepatitis, cirrhosis, liver cancer and other liver-related diseases) include early diagnosis, active medical treatment, and regular follow-up treatments.  The research, publicity and prevention of liver disease are local healthcare personnel's duty and mission. We have very significant new treatment capacities, and we wish to field them aggressively.

 

Therefore:

 

  • The Taiwan Liver Research Foundation holds free liver disease screening activities to assist people in understanding their health status and increase the public's attention for timely treatment.

 

  • We go to areas with poor medical resources to carry out blood biochemical screening for local people and perform abdominal ultrasound surveillance in areas with a high prevalence of chronic hepatitis.

 

  • We give lectures on hepatitis prevention and health education to increase disease awareness and make the new medical abilities more widely known.

 

Rampant levels of liver disease are prevalent throughout much of Asia, and regrettably, Taiwan has also struggled for decades.   Some history follows.

 

In 1985 Kaohsiung Medical University formally established the Division of Hepatobiliary and Pancreatic Medicine in 1985. The director, Professor Wen-Yu Chang, has been actively engaged in liver disease research and developing liver disease prevention and treatment.

In 1999, Professor Chang et al. established our Taiwan Liver Research Foundation.

 

The Foundation has been committed to entering the society, serving the grassroots, and strengthening the concept of prevention over treatment in recent years. Concomitantly, the Foundation has assisted the Division of Hepatobiliary and Pancreatic Medicine of Kaohsiung Medical University in conducting more in-depth research on liver diseases.

 

The aforementioned advances in diagnosis and treatment options have strengthened our hand, and we intend to press our advantage. 

 

The Taiwan Liver Research Foundation can now forcefully insist on the education, prevention, treatment, and research of liver disease.  We

 

  • Educate patients and the public about the awareness, treatment, and prevention of liver diseases.
  • Provide liver disease screening services and proactively care for grassroots communities and vulnerable groups.

 

  • Encourage and train relevant domestic researchers to engage in the prevention and research of liver-related diseases.

 

  • Provide a platform for exchanging liver disease knowledge between primary medical institutions and related academic institutions to improve the overall medical level.

 

We earnestly hope the citizenry will participate as we do our best to carry out our duty.

 

 


[i]       Taiwan Ministry of Health and Welfare statistics

[ii]      Taiwan Ministry of Health and Welfare numbers for 2018-21

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