On 28 July, Ukraine held its annual campaign dedicated to World Hepatitis Day. Street events were held in Kyiv and many other Ukrainian cities, where people could learn about the symptoms and transmission routes of the disease, consult doctors about the treatment and prevention of viral hepatitis, and take a free rapid test for hepatitis C.
According to Olga Golubovskaya, Doctor of Medical Sciences and Chief Freelance Infectious Disease Specialist at the Ministry of Health of Ukraine, the level of infection of the population with viral hepatitis reaches 9%, which is almost 4 million people.
“We still do not have accurate data on the number of people infected, but it is constantly growing. Nevertheless, over the past few years, Ukraine has begun diagnosing and treating hepatitis C as a separate disease, a state programme and protocol for the treatment of viral hepatitis C has been adopted, and this year the Ministry of Health has begun purchasing modern drugs for the treatment of hepatitis,” Golubovskaya said during a rally in Kyiv.
According to Golubovskaya, the main problem is that the adopted state programme remains 80% underfunded, and considering that more than 90,000 patients in Ukraine currently need treatment, the amount of drugs purchased is disproportionate to the actual need.
The Public Health Alliance, which was the main organiser of the nationwide advocacy campaign ‘Hepatitis C: We Demand Treatment!’, initiated a programme in 2012 based in 19 medical institutions in Ukraine to treat hepatitis C with a new-generation drug, Sofosbuvir. As of 1 July 2016, 1,092 patients had undergone treatment under this programme, 600 of whom had already completed treatment, with 93% of them successfully cured of hepatitis.
Thanks to the cooperation between experts from the Alliance and specialists from the Ministry of Health, hepatitis C treatment protocols were revised to include protocols for treatment with direct-acting antiviral drugs and to provide for the possibility of purchasing these drugs with state and local budget funds.
According to Andrey Klepikov, Executive Director of the Public Health Alliance, the situation with hepatitis C diagnosis remains critical, as testing for hepatitis is not included in the list of mandatory medical examinations, so most people living with hepatitis learn about their diagnosis at a late stage of the disease. ‘Since 2012, the Alliance has conducted 119,136 tests among representatives of vulnerable groups, as well as more than 13,500 representatives of the general population during street campaigns in all regions of Ukraine. For us, the basic principle is to ensure universal access to hepatitis C diagnosis and treatment,’ said Klepikov.
Since 2015, Ukraine has also joined the global campaign ‘Unite and defeat hepatitis C: know, test, treat!’
