80% of French people feel ill-informed about hepatitis C, according to a recent Ifop survey for the Janssen laboratory. 14% of the 1,000 people questioned for this national survey published in March 2013 say they have never heard of the disease.
Worse, if 95% of those questioned know the seriousness of the pathology, 66% of them are unaware that it is now possible to cure hepatitis C. And received ideas die hard: many believe that there is a vaccine for hepatitis C. Still others believe that the processing takes life.
It is in an attempt to fill this lack of information that the SOS Hepatitis association is launching a national information campaign. Objective: “to inform and raise awareness among the general public, patients and people who have experienced a risky situation about the need […] to be tested because it is now possible thanks to treatments to eradicate the virus”, explains the association in a press release.
Today, it is estimated that more than 230,000 people are carriers of the hepatitis C virus, but 43% of them are unaware that they are HIV positive. A number that illustrates insufficient screening for the disease.
An information toll-free number
“We are very worried”, confides Dr. Pascal Mélin, president of SOS Hépatites, calling for “a real awareness of the general public, public authorities and health professionals on this major public health issue”.
Radio spots will be broadcast from October. In the meantime, information is available on the website SOS hepatitis. A toll-free number 0800 004 372 is also available to the general public.
Hepatitis C is a global health problem, considered to be one of the leading causes of liver disease. Three to four million new cases of hepatitis C infection are recorded each year in the world.
>> To read also: Hepatitis, what is it?
