Increased access to testing and treatment reduced hepatitis C in low- and middle-income countries

Many low- and middle-income countries have reduced suffering from hepatitis C, through better access to tests and treatment. Some increased the number of people treated with safe and effective direct-acting retroviral drugs by 20 times between 2015 and 2018, according to the report. Global progress report on accelerating access to hepatitis C diagnosis and treatment, released today by the WHO.

Lower prices underpin this success

Low- and middle-income countries can now aim to achieve as low as $ 60 per patient for a 12-week course of treatment with generic WHO prequalified sofosbuvir and daclatasvir. Prices offered by WHO prequalified HCV rapid diagnostic test providers ranged from $ 1-8 per test.

In 2018, more than 120 countries had adopted a national strategy against viral hepatitis, compared to 20 countries in 2012. This situation has accelerated since the adoption of the first Global Health Sector Strategy on Viral Hepatitis 2016 -2021 from the WHO, and a number of countries have made impressive progress. strengthen government engagement, develop national strategic plans, simplify guidelines, and increase the availability of cheaper, quality-assured diagnostic and treatment options.

Despite the challenges of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the progress to date is impressive but fragile, and access to hepatitis C testing and treatment has not reached sufficient levels of coverage to reach it. global goal to eliminate viral hepatitis as a major public health. threat by 2030. Globally, by the end of 2017, only 5 million – or 7% – of the 71 (62–79) million people chronically infected with HCV had received cumulative treatment with direct-acting antivirals.

“As countries continue to grapple with the disease burden and disruption to service caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, it is critical to ensure that the momentum and recent gains in responding to the hepatitis C is not lost. ” said Dr Minghui Ren, WHO Assistant Director-General Universal health coverage Communicable and noncommunicable diseases. “Global efforts to expand access to high-impact hepatitis C interventions must be sustained and accelerated over the next decade, as part of broader efforts towards universal health coverage.

“Sources of quality-assured, direct-acting generic antivirals and diagnostics are steadily increasing and prices continue to fall,” said Dr Mariangela Simao, Assistant Director-General for Access to Medicines and Health Products at the WHO. “Yet many countries are not accessing these low prices. Greater market transparency as well as advice and exchange of experiences from around the world provide practical examples for countries and communities to expand access and overcome persistent obstacles “.

Despite recent price reductions, the availability and accessibility of diagnostics remains a major obstacle to scaling up treatment in low- and middle-income countries. Expanding access to simple, affordable and quality-assured in vitro diagnostics for hepatitis C will be critical so that countries can screen large numbers of people, identify patients in need of treatment and provide appropriate care.

It is essential to accelerate universal access to hepatitis diagnostic tests and multi-disease diagnostic analyzers that can be used at or near the point of care. We will continue to work with governments, technical partners, civil society and global experts to foster decentralization, task sharing, simplifications and integration of screening and diagnostic services with existing infrastructure in countries. . “

Dr Meg Doherty, Director of the Department of Global Programs on HIV, Hepatitis and STIs at WHO