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Mahesh

15/10/23 08:58 AM IST

Egypt is racing to eliminate hepatitis C

In News
  • WHO announced that Egypt had made “unprecedented progress” towards eliminating hepatitis C.
  • According to the WHO, Egypt became the first country to achieve “gold tier” status on the path to elimination of hepatitis C as per the global health body criteria.
About Gold tier status
  • The “gold tier” status to reach the stated goal of eliminating hepatitis C includes meeting specific criteria such as ensuring 100% blood and injection safety,
  • Maintaining a minimum of 150 needles/syringes per year for people who inject drugs (PWID),
  • Diagnosis of over 80% of people living with chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV),
  • Treating of over 70% of individuals diagnosed with HCV, and the establishing of a sentinel surveillance programme for hepatitis sequelae, including liver cancer.
100 Million Healthy Lives Initiative
  • Egypt had undertaken the “100 Million Healthy Lives” initiative.
  • Through this initiative, Egypt “significantly reduced the prevalence of hepatitis C from 10% in 2016 to 5% in 2018 and an estimated less than 1% in 2019”.
  • Egypt has diagnosed 87% of people living with hepatitis C and has provided 93% of those diagnosed with curative treatment, exceeding the WHO gold tier targets of diagnosing at least 80% of people living with hepatitis C and providing treatment to at least 70% of diagnosed people.
Significance
  • Egypt is an example to the world of what can be achieved with modern tools, and political commitment at the highest level to use those tools to prevent infections and save lives.
  • Egypt’s success must give all of us hope and motivation to eliminate hepatitis C everywhere.
  • With its commitment to eliminate hepatitis C, Egypt has succeeded in testing virtually the whole of the eligible population and has treated almost all those who are living with the virus.
  • Egypt also customised the elimination programme by involving generalist doctors to community healthcare workers and using telemedicine for hard-to-reach areas.
  • But the biggest boost came from reducing the cost of medical treatment per patient to less than $50 through local manufacturing.
Hepatitis C
  • The word hepatitis refers to any inflammation of the liver — the irritation or swelling of the liver cells from any cause.
    It can be acute (inflammation of the liver that presents with sickness — jaundice, fever, vomiting) or chronic (inflammation of the liver that lasts more than six months, but essentially showing no symptoms).
  • Usually caused by a group of viruses known as the “hepatotropic” (liver directed) viruses, including A, B, C, D and E.
  • Hepatitis A and E are self-limiting diseases (i.e. go away on their own) and require no specific antiviral medications.
  • For Hepatitis B and C, effective medications are available.
  • Hepatitis C infection is unevenly distributed globally, with these regions accounting for the most — European (22%), South-East Asia (20%) and the Eastern Mediterranean (17%).
  • According to a 2023 WHO document, in 2019, there were 1.5 million new infections, with one third of new HCV infections occurring in the Eastern Mediterranean Region.
  • The prevalence of hepatitis C across the world in 2019 was 58 million.
Source- The Hindu

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