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World Hepatitis Day July 26 2013: Globally.......
governments fail to tackle viral hepatitis
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It is common today that local governments are failing to devote adequate funds to hepatitis B and C and other viral hepatitis, which is amazing considering successful treatments for hepatitis are available and hepatitis C treatments are available and new interferon-free treatments are about to become available with as little as 12 weeks duration of therapy for a hep C 'cure'.
Global HCV 150 Million: reused syringes, IDU, sexual transmission, HIV coinfection, China/India/Pakistan, Africa......http://www.natap.org/2011/HCV/080211_01.htm
Scope of Worldwide Hepatitis C Problem - NATAP www.natap.org/2004/jan/013004_04.htm
Global HCV: http://www.natap.org/2011/HCV/120111_01.htm
hepatitis C virus epidemiology in Asia, Australia and Egypt: http://www.natap.org/2011/HCV/080611_02.htm
"Hepatitis kills more than one million people every year
.......One in 12 people worldwide are suffering from chronic hepatitis B or C and yet majority of those infected are unaware
INDIA: Nearly 2.50 lakh (250,000) people in India die of viral hepatitis annually, which affects approximately one in twelve persons worldwide, experts here said today on 'World Hepatitis Day'. Stating that some 500 million people are living with chronic viral hepatitis in India......Of the 7,271 people tested last year for hepatitis B in Mumbai at Metropolis Healthcare, 2,122 people were positive. The rates were much lower in Chennai where 7% tested positive out of 10,000. In Delhi, 12% tested positive while 6% in Bangalore had the infection.
Hepatitis C Disease Awareness and Access to Care in India: a Multicenter, National Survey
http://www.natap.org/2013/APASL/APASL_06.htm
Every 30 seconds, one person dies from hepatitis in the Asia Pacific region and Pakistan alone has 13 million hepatitis sufferers, with many of whom being unaware that they are the carriers of the deadly virus, and this death rate is three times as high as HIV/AIDS'........"Globally, 500 million people are living with chronic hepatitis B or C. Pakistan alone has 13 million hepatitis sufferers, many of whom are unaware that they are carriers of the deadly virus. About nine million of these people suffer from Hepatitis C and 4.5 million from Hepatitis B," said Dr Hamid.: Dr Saeed Hamid while speaking at a public awareness event in connection with the World Hepatitis Day at the Aga Khan University Hospital on Saturday.......Dr Saeed Hamid and Dr Zaigham Abbas, representing The Coalition for the Eradication of Viral Hepatitis in Asia Pacific (CEVHAP) in Pakistan, called upon the government to take notice of the deaths from diseases. http://www.thenews.com.pk/Todays-News-4-192763-Over-13m-hepatitis-patients-in-Pakistan
Getting hepatitis on the policy agenda in Asia.....http://www.guardian.co.uk/global-development-professionals-network/2013/jul/28/world-hepatitis-day-health-policy-asia.......Vietnam, where 15-17% of the population have hepatitis B or C, the global health burden has been heavy.......We have a vaccine for hepatitis B and new treatments for chronic hepatitis C that could save millions of lives, but none of these matter if governments fail to tackle viral hepatitis," says professor Stephen Locarnini, director of the WHO Regional Reference Laboratory for Hepatitis B at the Victorian Infectious Diseases Reference Laboratory in Melbourne and joint secretary of the Coalition to Eradicate Viral Hepatitis in Asia Pacific (Cevhap)........Dr Robert Gish, Cvevhap's co-founder has been doing just that with the government in Vietnam..... "It's clear that the country needs a policy for liver health," he said.-----"Liver disease in Viet Nam: Screening, surveillance, management and education: A 5-year plan and call to action"....http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1440-1746.2011.06974.x/full.....Gish, together with colleagues in Vietnam and from UN and other international agencies has been working to get hepatitis and liver health on the Vietnamese government's health agenda.
AUSTRALIA: Today, more than 226,000 people in Australia are estimated to be living with chronic hepatitis C and 170,000 people with chronic hepatitis B......Hepatitis B and C have a massive impact on not just the lives affected by the disease, but the wider Australian economy, representing a 40 percent greater imposition on health costs than chronic kidney disease and Type 2 diabetes combined. In 2013 the estimated burden on the health system is somewhere in the vicinity of 50 billion Australian dollars per annum.......http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/health/2013-07/28/c_132579983.htm. Demands during the global day of action targeting WHO include:
· Advocating for rights-based harm reduction;
· Establishing a prequalification process for alternative and biosimilar pegylated interferon products;
· Monitoring the quality of, and increasing access to, HCV diagnostics;
· Prioritizing and expediting the addition of HCV direct-acting antivirals to the WHO Essential Medicines List, to create access to affordable, high-quality, safe, and effective HCV treatment;
· Providing technical support to countries to increase their capacity to deliver HCV care and treatment; and
· Creating clear guidance on HCV screening and testing that explicitly recommends screening for people living with HIV, in whom HCV progresses rapidly, and for people who inject drugs.
USA: World Hepatitis Day Statement by HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and HHS Assistant Secretary for Health Dr. Howard Koh http://blog.aids.gov/2013/07/world-hepatitis-day-statement.html
(press release) World Hepatitis Day 2011: Networks in Asia call for immediate action......http://www.pkni.org/press-release-world-hepatitis-day-2011-networks-in-asia-call-for-immediate-action/
UNODC Executive Director calls for prevention, fair access to treatment on World Hepatitis Day......https://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/frontpage/2013/July/unodc-executive-director-calls-for-prevention-fair-access-to-treatment-on-world-hepatitis-day.html?ref=fs1
Pakistan - World Hepatitis Day: Going viral....Pakistan is currently facing an epidemic of viral hepatitis in the country with national prevalence of hepatitis B at 2.4% and of hepatitis C at 4.9 %......the main reason for this is the mushroom growth of quacks in the area who have opened their 'mini clinics' and are using expired syringes.
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6th World Hepatitis Day: region of Eastern Europe and Central Asia faces disproportionally high unmet demand for treatment of hepatitis C
July 26, 2013
On July 28, 2013, to mark the 6th World Hepatitis Day, the Eurasian Harm Reduction Network (EHRN) calls on governments in Eastern Europe and Central Asia (EECA) to allocate funds for the treatment of hepatitis C.
The most affected group by the hepatitis C virus (HCV) in EECA is injecting drug users (IDUs). The HCV prevalence among IDUs in our region is one of the highest in the world, reaches 90-96 percent. Although prevalence is extremely high and demand for treatment is huge, hepatitis C treatment coverage in the region remains very low, and few of those in need can access it.
"Many positive changes have happened since the last World Hepatitis Day - mainly due to community living with hepatitis C mobilization. In Ukraine in response to the organized community actions the State Program to fight Hepatitis finally has been developed. Georgia adopted a national program to finance hepatitis C treatment in prisons. There is a change in the medical technology - two pharmaceutical companies have submitted new drug applications that can fundamentally change the quality and availability of treatment. But in general the situation on access to hepatitis C treatment in Eastern Europe and Central Asia remains extremely difficult - even if some people are treated, still there is a need for the hundreds, also the states still take a fairly passive role to change the situation," says Daria Ocheret, Deputy Director for Policy and Advocacy at EHRN.
The key barrier to access to hepatitis C treatment remains the extremely high price of medicines. The average cost of a 48-week course of treatment in EECA is $15,000. For example, the retail price of an ampoule of Pegasys (pegylated interferon - one of the key components of current hepatitis C treatment produced by the pharmaceutical company Roche, of which 24 or 48 ampoules for one course are required) costs $354 in Russia, $345 in Armenia, $300 in Uzbekistan, etc. Meanwhile, most countries in the region have low- or middle-income economies, where average household monthly income per capita ranges from US$277 in Ukraine to US$564 in Kazakhstan.
Such an expensive treatment is unaffordable for both patients and governments. Governments either do not fund hepatitis C treatment at all or provide very limited funding. If funding is allocated from domestic funds, it is not sufficient to cover all treatment needs. For example, in Russia in 2011 treatment was covered for approximately 5500 patients, although estimated HCV prevalence in the country is approximately 5 million people. In Moldova treatment each year is covered for only 200 patients, and there are no clear criteria for how patients are prioritized and selected. A few hundred additional patients are receiving hepatitis C treatment with the support of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. In Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Armenia and Azerbaijan neither the government nor international donors cover treatment, and patients need to pay out of their own pockets.
Understanding that the community is a driving force for change on this subject, EHRN - on World Hepatitis Day - is also launching a Call for Action: 'I advocate for hepatitis C treatment'. It calls on people who use drugs, and people living with HIV and hepatitis to share their personal stories to help advocate for access to hepatitis C treatment.
Fore more detailed information on each country please read EHRN's report: Current situation regarding access to hepatitis C treatment in Eastern Europe and Central Asia.
http://harm-reduction.org/images/stories/News_PDF_2013/
hep_c_policy_brief_update_en_edited_3.pdf
EHRN is a regional network of harm reduction programs and their allies from across 29 countries in the region of Central and Eastern Europe and Central Asia (CEECA). Together, we work to advocate for the universal human rights of people who use drugs, and to protect their lives and health. The Network unites over 350 institutional and individual members, tapping into a wealth of regional best practices, expertise and resources in harm reduction, drug policy reform, HIV/AIDS, TB, HCV, and overdose prevention. As a regional network, EHRN plays a key role as a liaison between local, national and international organizations.
Contact information: Erika Matuizaite, ph.: +370 69999962, email: erika@harm-reduction.org
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ON EVE OF WORLD HEPATITIS DAY, NEW YORKERS WITH HEPATITIS C AND ALLIES BLOCK TRAFFIC AND OCCUPY LOBBY OF WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION (WHO) DEMANDING LEADERSHIP TO END THE EPIDEMIC
Protest is part of a global day of action in over a dozen countries calling on WHO's Director General Margaret Chan to fight for access to hepatitis C prevention, diagnostics and treatment
PHOTOS AVAILABLE ONLINE (http://bit.ly/17G4I8N)......VOCAL-NY, Treatment Action Group (TAG), and thousands of others from 86 countries calling on WHO to show leadership on fighting the hepatitis C epidemic have launched a petition (www.hepcoalition.org) outlining their demands.
Demands during the global day of action targeting WHO include:
· Advocating for rights-based harm reduction;
· Establishing a prequalification process for alternative and biosimilar pegylated interferon products;
· Monitoring the quality of, and increasing access to, HCV diagnostics;
· Prioritizing and expediting the addition of HCV direct-acting antivirals to the WHO Essential Medicines List, to create access to affordable, high-quality, safe, and effective HCV treatment;
· Providing technical support to countries to increase their capacity to deliver HCV care and treatment; and
· Creating clear guidance on HCV screening and testing that explicitly recommends screening for people living with HIV, in whom HCV progresses rapidly, and for people who inject drugs.
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Thailand
On July 26th, 2013, 126 reps from 10 civil society groups visited Thailand's National Health Security Office (NHSO, which oversees the universal healthcare scheme) yesterday in recognition of World Hepatitis Day. Recognizing the government's positive steps taken to increase access to HCV tx in the face of significant barriers, through their successful action in negotiating a lower price of tx and by putting PEG-IFN on its EDL (Oct. '12) but in light of the fact that testing and monitoring is still not covered by the healthcare scheme, and that treatment is currently limited to genotypes 2/3 in mono-infected people and approved only for 24 weeks (and not in HIV+), the civil society advocates presented a set of recommendations, which included:
1. NHSO should cover comprehensive screening and testing for risk groups and people on treatment
2. Collect relevant epidemiological data on HCV in PLWHA and PWID at national level.
3. Move PEG-IFN to main Essential Drugs List (from auxilliary) in order to reduce barriers and increase access.
4. Expand eligibility criteria for treatment consideration and access to PLWHA and PWID and for the duration medically necessary
5. Work with relevant stakeholders to develop medical provider capacity to treat HCV, and develop national HCV (and coinfection) treatment guidelines
in Thai that are in accordance with int'l. standards.
6. Support civil society to continue to play an essential role in peer education and advocacy activities for HCV prevention, treatment, etc., in particular in communities at high risk/prevalence, such as PWID, MSM, PLWHA
7.Expand treatment access to areas around the country with the capacity to treat.
Responses from the govt. will be shared.
Signatories to the letter to NHSO were:
Mitraphap House, On Nut (BKK) Dop-in Center (DIC)
Pak Nam Samut Prakhan DIC
Raks Thai Foundation
Mitsampan Harm Reduction Center
Ozone-Prachacheun DIC
Thai Drug User's Network (TDN)
Thai Network of PLWHA (TNP+)
Hep C/HIV Working Group, NE Thailand
Hep C/HIV Working Group, Upper North Thailand
Thai AIDS Treatment Action Group (TTAG)
WHO urges governments to act on hepatitis
Global policy report on the prevention and control of viral hepatitis in WHO Member States ......http://www.who.int/csr/disease/hepatitis/global_report/en/index.html
Downloads Global policy report on the prevention and control of viral hepatitis
July 2013
World Hepatitis Day 2013
News release
24 July 2013 | GENEVA - On World Hepatitis Day (28 July), WHO is urging governments to act against the five hepatitis viruses that can cause severe liver infections and lead to 1.4 million deaths every year. Some of these hepatitis viruses, most notably types B and C, can also lead to chronic and debilitating illnesses such as liver cancer and cirrhosis, and in addition to, loss of income and high medical expenses for hundreds of millions of people worldwide.
Viral hepatitis is referred to as a 'silent epidemic' because most persons do not realize that they are infected and, over decades, slowly progress to liver disease. Many countries are only now realizing the magnitude of the disease burden and devising ways to address it.
"The fact that many hepatitis B and C infections are silent, causing no symptoms until there is severe damage to the liver, points to the urgent need for universal access to immunization, screening, diagnosis and antiviral therapy," says Dr Keiji Fukuda, WHO Assistant Director-General for Health Security and the Environment.
"Many of the measures needed to prevent the spread of viral hepatitis disease can be put in place right now, and doing so will offset the heavy economic costs of treating and hospitalizing patients in future."
Dr Sylvie Briand, Director, WHO Pandemic and Epidemic Diseases
This year, in the run up to World Hepatitis Day, the Organization is releasing its first-ever country hepatitis survey, covering 126 countries. The WHO "Global policy report on the prevention and control of viral hepatitis in WHO Member States" identifies successes as well as gaps at country level in the implementation of four priority areas. The priority areas are raising awareness, evidence-based data for action, prevention of transmission, and screening, care and treatment.
The findings show that 37% of the countries have national strategies for viral hepatitis, and more work is needed in treating hepatitis. It also highlights that while most of the countries (82%) have established hepatitis surveillance programmes, only half of them include the monitoring of chronic hepatitis B and C, which are responsible for most severe illnesses and deaths.
"Many of the measures needed to prevent the spread of viral hepatitis disease can be put in place right now, and doing so will offset the heavy economic costs of treating and hospitalizing patients in future," says Dr Sylvie Briand, Director, Pandemic and Epidemic Diseases at WHO. "The findings underline the important work that is being done by governments to halt hepatitis through the implementation of WHO recommended policies and actions."
The challenges posed by hepatitis were formally acknowledged by the World Health Assembly in 2010 when it adopted its first resolution on viral hepatitis, and called for a comprehensive approach to prevention and control. This has promoted a new era of awareness with more governments proactively working to address the disease. Reinforcing that call for action, WHO has been collaborating closely with countries and partners to build a strong global response. As a result, the new report notes, 38% of countries observe World Hepatitis Day (an annual event that began in 2010) with even more countries expected to mark the day this year.
In addition to collaborating closely with countries, WHO has been working on developing networks and mechanisms that can deliver results. The Organization is exploring with international funding agencies avenues that could allow hepatitis to be included in their current programme of activities. In June 2013, WHO launched the Global Hepatitis Network. One of its aims is to support countries with planning and implementation of viral hepatitis plans and programmes.
WHO is currently developing new hepatitis C screening, care and treatment guidelines, which will provide recommendations on seven key areas such as testing approaches; behavioural interventions (alcohol reduction); non-invasive assessment of liver fibrosis; and the selection of hepatitis C drug combinations.
"New, more effective medicines to prevent the progression of chronic hepatitis B and C are in the pipeline. However, these will be expensive and therapy will require monitoring with sophisticated laboratory tests. To cure and reduce the spread of these viruses, medicines must become more accessible," says Dr Stefan Wiktor, Team lead of WHO's Global Hepatitis Programme.
Additional background information
The complexity of hepatitis disease lies in the existence of different types of viruses. Hepatitis A and E are foodborne and waterborne infections which cause millions of cases of acute illness every year, sometimes with several months needed for a person to fully recover.
Hepatitis B, C, and D are spread by infected body fluids including blood, by sexual contact, mother-to-child transmission during birth, or by contaminated medical equipment. Hepatitis B and C have a greater health burden in terms of death because they can cause life-long infection (called chronic infection), which can lead to liver cirrhosis and cancer. In fact, chronic hepatitis is the leading cause of liver cirrhosis and cancer.
WHO-approved vaccines are available to prevent hepatitis A and B, while screening of blood donors, assuring clean needle and syringes, and condom use can prevent bloodborne and sexual transmission.
· Hepatitis B can be prevented by reaching every child with immunization programmes that include hepatitis B vaccine. There is no vaccine for hepatitis C. In addition, infections can be prevented by protecting against mother-to-child transmission of the virus and ensuring the safety of blood, transfusion services, organ donation and injection practice (treatment can include antiviral medications if needed).
· Hepatitis A and E can be prevented by avoiding contaminated food and water; in addition, there is an effective WHO approved vaccine for hepatitis A.
· Hepatitis medicines are now included in the WHO Essential Medicines List, which Member States are encouraged to adopt. Essential medicines are selected based on disease prevalence, safety, efficacy, and comparative cost-effectiveness. The WHO Model List can be used by countries as a guide for the development of their own national list.
For more information please contact:
Mr Glenn Thomas
Communications Officer
WHO, Geneva
Telephone: +41 22 791 3983
Mobile: +41 79 509 0677
E-mail: thomasg@who.int
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Viral hepatitis kills more Asians - every 30 seconds
Saturday, 27 July, 2013 [Updated: 1:24AM]
Agence France-Presse in Singapore
Dr Nancy Leung, chairman of AsiaHep Hong Kong, a non-profit organisation that aims to raise public awareness and education of viral hepatitis. Photo: Edward Wong
A Singapore-based group fighting the spread of viral hepatitis yesterday called for greater political will to combat the disease, as new data showed it killed one person every 30 seconds in Asia.
Ding-Shinn Chen, chair of an NGO called the Coalition to Eradicate Viral Hepatitis in Asia-Pacific, said the latest figures, released publicly in June, show that one million people die from the illness in the region annually, up from 695,000 in 1990.
It is symptomatic of the poor understanding and lack of political commitment that has typically surrounded these diseases in many countries
This translates to one person dying every 30 seconds from hepatitis, according to the figures, derived from the latest study on the global burden of disease led by the University of Washington. The Asia-Pacific death rate from hepatitis - which settles in the liver causing inflammation - is three times that of the acquired immune deficiency syndrome (Aids), Chen said.
It is "symptomatic of the poor understanding and lack of political commitment that has typically surrounded these diseases in many countries," Chen said in Singapore ahead of World Hepatitis Day tomorrow.
According to the World Health Organisation, viral hepatitis kills close to 1.4 million globally, and affects millions of others. The disease exists in five forms: A, B, C, D and E.
Vaccines are available for all forms except C, which morphs into stronger variants when under attack by the immune system.
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