JEDDAH, 1 October — Awards worth SR17,500 for excellence in hepatitis C journalism have been instituted. Announcing the “Roche National Awards for hepatitis C journalism” here yesterday, Roche Country Manager in Saudi Arabia Dr. A.A. Mejri said: “These awards provide a unique opportunity for journalists to demonstrate their expertise and knowledge of hepatitis C through responsible reporting. Increased public awareness of hepatitis C is essential to help stem this growing public health problem.” The winner gets SR10,000 and the first and second runner up SR5,000 and SR2,500 respectively. The company quoted a WHO report that said hepatitis C virus (VHC) now infected more than 170 million adults worldwide. The Kingdom had nearly 500,000 infected people. (KSR)
