Where in the world
Financing doesn’t have to be a barrier
With the question of how we pay
for the hepatitis response never
far from anyone’s lips, the sessions
on financing were some of the
most anticipated. While only 35%
of national plans currently have
funding strategies attached to
them, the resounding message was
that financing needn’t be a barrier
to elimination. WHO estimates that
financing the hepatitis response will
cost approximately $6 billion per
year for all low-and middle-income
countries; a figure that was starkly
contrasted with the $3 billion spent
on the 2010 South Africa World Cup
and the $4 billion India spent on the
Commonwealth Games. Coinciding
with the event was the publication
of this article in the Lancet stressing
the need for donors to enter the
space while an evening event acted
8
hep
Voice November/December 2017
as the soft launch of ENDhep2030,
a dedicated fund to eliminating
hepatitis. To support discussions
around financing, we launched our
National Viral Hepatitis Programme
Financing Strategy Template that
aims to guide governments on how
to adopt a strategic approach to
costing and financing programmes.
Across the sessions, presenters
reiterated that integration into
wider health systems will be key to
achieving elimination and crucially,
as Homie Razavi, CDA Foundation,
reminded us, “countries will spend
less eliminating hepatitis C than
doing nothing at all”.
Rediscover the World Hepatitis Summit 2017 with all our
resources
• Presentations
• Abstract posters
• Videos
• Photo gallery
• Daily reviews
Keep an eye out for the full
World Hepatitis Summit 2017
report – to be published early
2018.
hep Voice November/December 2017
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