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July 28 is World Hepatitis Day, a viral disease that affects millions of people around the world. Of the 5 known forms of hepatitis, hepatitis C is one of the most common. Despite the existence of effective treatments against this infection, screening is still a weak link in the fight against this infection.
More than 70 million people in the world are carriers of chronic hepatitis C. In the absence of treatment this form of the disease can cause death by cirrhosis or cancer. While effective treatments exist, the detection of this infection is still insufficient in some countries.
" In Morocco, we do not have really reliable studies, it is estimated that there would still 500 000 people with hepatitis C virus, most of whom are undiagnosed says Mehdi Karkouri, president of the association against AIDS and hepatitis in Morocco. If you do not know that you have hepatitis C, you may not know that you need treatment. So today there are treatments, they are effective, relatively accessible, but we have the problem of screening : people do not go for lack of information, because it is complicated, screening is not available everywhere, because it is expensive . And that is an important brake on the management of hepatitis.
" And the paradox of Morocco is that the country is a producer of generics against hepatitis C, but has not yet put in place a plan to fight this disease. To eradicate hepatitis C, the World Health Organization recommends screening 90% of people with HCV [virus de l’hépatite C, NDLR] and treating 80% of patients.
Differently from the HIV virus or tuberculosis, the number of people affected by hepatitis continues to grow in the world
Of the five known forms of hepatitis, there are two that are more widespread and on which the World Health Organization (WHO) calls for more screening and treatment, the number of infections continues to increase: hepatitis B and C
An alarming situation, according to Dr. Ivan Hutin, of the WHO World Hepatitis Program.
There are about 325 million people infected with the hepatitis B virus or hepatitis C who represent our main concern. There are five hepatitis, A, B, C, D to E, but it is B and C that cause about 95% of mortality, which in 2015 was estimated at 1.3 million deaths. And that is disturbing, because it continues to increase. If we compare for example with HIV, tuberculosis or malaria, the death rate in the world decreases because of fairly effective interventions, but for hepatitis, it tends to increase.
The main message [de l’OMS à l’occasion de cette journée] is to test and treat hepatitis. WHO recommends to everyone, be it the population, the health workers or the government, to put in place policies to test and treat people for hepatitis
Dr Yvan Hutin, the World Health Organization
28-07-2018
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