Focus
O vercoming the barriers to diagnosis of hepatitis B and C
Nine out of 10
people living with
viral hepatitis are
unaware – that’s
more than 290
million people
across the globe.
Only 20% of people
living with hepatitis
C are aware of their
condition and less
than 10% of people
living with hepatitis
B.
In every region, diagnosis remains
one of the biggest challenges for
the elimination of viral hepatitis.
Without timely diagnosis,
infection rates will continue to
escalate and people won’t be able
to access life-saving treatments.
The African and South East Asia
regions have the lowest diagnosis
rates, with 93% and 91% of
the population living with viral
hepatitis being unaware. This
is compared to 83% in Eastern
Mediterranean, 79% in Western
Pacific, 68% in European and 64%
in the Americas region.
Barriers to diagnosis
People across the globe are
being denied their right to know
12 hep Voice August 2018
their health status. In an effort
to increase diagnosis rates
across the globe, this year we
commissioned a multi-country
survey to identify the key barriers
to the diagnosis. Based on our
research, we found the main
barriers to diagnosis globally are:
1
2
3
4
5
Lack of public knowledge
of the disease
Lack of knowledge of
the disease amongst
healthcare professionals
Lack of easily accessible
testing
Stigma and discrimination
The out-of-pocket costs to
the patients
Find out more about the barriers
to diagnosis and regional findings
in this report here.
Overcoming the
barriers to diagnosis
Overcoming the barriers to
diagnosis will be critical if we are
to reach elimination so once we
had identified the barriers, we
convened a two-day stakeholder
consultation meeting. Throughout
the meeting, global experts
discussed ways in which the
barriers can be overcome
and decided on a number of
recommendations to tackle the
diagnosis gap. The resounding
message from the meeting was
clear: governments must
act immediately in each of the
areas and must adopt a multi-
stakeholder response. Outcomes
of the meeting are captured in a
White Paper that was launched
on World Hepatitis Day.
The white paper acts as a
roadmap, highlighting actions
to be prioritised
such as integrating
targeted hepatitis
testing strategies
into existing services,
making testing
affordable and
combating