The Health Ministry has launched a national roadmap to bridge gaps in liver disease care after data revealed nearly 700,000 Malaysian adults face moderate or high risk of liver fibrosis.
KUALA LUMPUR: The Health Ministry (MOH) is seeking to bridge gaps between early screening and specialist treatment for liver disease, after national health data estimated that nearly 700,000 adults in Malaysia were at moderate or high risk of liver fibrosis.
Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad said the National Liver Health Initiative Roadmap 2026–2030 aimed to establish a more seamless care pathway from primary healthcare clinics to hospitals and centres of excellence.
He said screening and treatment initiatives had been carried out for several years, but the roadmap would bring together services that had previously been fragmented.
“Screening has already been running for several years.
“What we want to see in this liver cancer initiative is the mobilisation of all facilities, starting from primary facilities at our health clinics to tertiary treatment at our hospitals, including centres of excellence.
“It must break the walls of fragmentation. It must be continuous and seamless, from screening, diagnosis, treatment and monitoring of patients,” he told reporters after launching the roadmap at Hospital Canselor Tuanku Muhriz UKM today.
In his speech at the launch, Dzulkefly said the National Health and Morbidity Survey 2023 estimated that 28.2%, or 6.7 million adults in Malaysia, had metabolic dysfunction-associated fatty liver disease (MAFLD).
Of this number, 10.4%, or nearly 700,000 adults, were estimated to be at moderate or high risk of liver fibrosis and required further assessment.
Dzulkefly said the roadmap was important because liver cancer in Malaysia was still predominantly detected at a late stage.
He said 86% of male patients and 83% of female patients with liver cancer were diagnosed at stage three or four.
He said liver disease should not be treated solely as a cancer issue, as it also involved risk factors associated with both non-communicable and infectious diseases.
“This is a double whammy. Infectious diseases and non-communicable diseases can end in this organ, which is the liver.
“That is why the roadmap must be multidisciplinary, starting from primary health, screening, diagnosis, treatment and continuous monitoring,” he said.
Dzulkefly said fatty liver disease, hepatitis B and hepatitis C could lead to fibrosis, cirrhosis and eventually hepatocellular carcinoma, the most common form of primary liver cancer.
He said hepatocellular carcinoma accounted for about 70% of primary liver cancer cases.
Liver cancer is the fifth most common cancer in Malaysia, with incidence rates recorded between 2022 and 2024 at 8.8 cases per 100,000 men and 2.6 cases per 100,000 women.
Dzulkefly said the roadmap would cover prevention, hepatitis detection and treatment, fibrosis risk stratification, surveillance, diagnosis, treatment, supportive care, registry development and monitoring.
He said Malaysia also aimed to champion liver health as a global agenda at the World Health Assembly, following its earlier push to raise the profile of lung health.
“The aspiration is to elevate liver health as a global agenda championed by Malaysia,” he said.
