World hepatitis day: how to stop the epidemic

According to the figures, hepatitis C remains a considerable threat to global public health. Dsince 2010, more than a million people have died from this infectious disease transmissible by the blood and which attacks the liver. In addition, it is estimated that 185 million people are infected with HCV today. And between 3 and 4 million new contaminations would take place each year. So on the eve World Hepatitis Day, Médecins du Monde, INPUD, TAG, APN +, ITPC and Act-up-Basel launch a petition. The text calls on Dr. Margaret Chan, Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO), to act urgently to improve universal access to tools for the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of hepatitis C.

In detail, these NGOs ask the Director to show “real leadership” by mobilizing the political will and the resources necessary to fight this global epidemic.
To carry out this mission, they call on the Organization to speed up the marketing of new treatments (direct-acting antivirals) on the list of essential drugs. New drugs recently discovered to treat hepatitis C have admittedly shown cure rates of almost 100%. Yet at present, sonly a tiny fraction of people who know they are carriers of the virus have access to treatment, or benefit from the information and tools necessary to prevent its transmission.

Finally, the petition clearly calls for an improvement in the strategy for HCV screening. These NGOs recommend, for example, the screening of people living with HIV, in whom the virus progresses rapidly, and people who use intravenous drugs. Indeed, because it is transmitted by blood, this virus affects more than the majority of intravenous drug users (out of 16 million, more than 10 million are infected).
“Many countries are ready to tackle the HCV epidemic and are waiting for WHO’s recommendations in key areas, which will enable us all to move forward and end the dramatic consequences of the hepatitis virus. C “, they conclude in their joint press release.