After the alarming COVID pandemic, it is feared that cases of other serious diseases that can be prevented and cured but that ‘remain hidden’ until their consequences become apparent, might skyrocket. The hepatitis Viral diseases are pathologies that, according to estimates, more than 350 million people in the world suffer from and cause numerous deaths.
In Argentina it is estimated that between 6 and 7 out of 10 ignore it.
It’s a ‘red light’ that turns on Health and, in line with the proposal of the World Hepatitis Alliance and within the framework of World Viral Hepatitis Day, which is commemorated every July 28, the Viral Hepatitis Coordination of the Ministry of Health, the Argentine Society of Hepatology (SAHE), the Coordination of Sexual Health, AIDS and Sexually Transmitted Infections (STI) and numerous agencies and entities in the country organized a day of awareness and testing of viral hepatitis and vaccination for adults.
“The different organizations involved recognize that efforts must be multiplied from the Health System, the medical community and the general public to increase the detection of patientsbecause they are not being found or, what is more likely, they are not being looked for enough, although today everyone can access the medicines to be cured”, he warned.
“Hundreds of thousands of Argentines have been carrying around a time bomb in their bodies for years, not knowing that it is causing irreversible damage and putting their lives at risk,” explained Rubén Cantelmi, cured patient and president of Buena Vida.
Rapid tests – it was specified – allow the presence of the virus to be detected in a few minutes and begin the path to a cure, with medicines covered 100% by the health system and that eliminate the disease in a few weeks.
From Health, professionals from all over the country were summoned to join the strategy of reviewing medical records of diagnosed patients to contact them once more and resume their path to a cure.
From the Ministry of Health of the Nation, Soledad Alonso, coordinator of Viral Hepatitis, maintained that “in the country, social security, prepaid and the Ministry of Health cover 100% medication, regardless of the level or degree of progress in which the disease is found, so it is important to highlight that, from the Coordination, we advocate testing people over 18 years of age, at least once in their lives, and in all pregnant people of any age. It is also important to ensure that those who already have a diagnosis return to the health system and are cured, and thus be able to avoid serious liver consequences in the future.”
On the run behind the patients
Work is being done to find patients and ensure that they take advantage of the drugs that are available, for which multiple detection proposals are being carried out throughout the country and under different strategies. The initiative that is proving to be one of the most direct ways to cure people of their hepatitis is part of the ‘relinking’ strategy.
The proposal is that the different hepatology, gastroenterology or infectology services review among their files those medical records of patients who received the diagnosis, but did not return to the consultation to be treated and cured. If they require advice on how to take the first steps to do so, the organization makes itself available to accompany this process.
Another highly effective strategy is called micro-elimination in a prioritized population and has to do with specifically testing at-risk populations, those with the greatest chance of having come into contact with contaminated blood, even in many cases involuntarily.
“Letting yourself be is the worst thing you can do, because the virus progresses without warning until it can cause (non-alcoholic) cirrhosis, liver failure, liver cancer or require a transplant, so it is important not to give the virus a meter of advantage. ”, highlighted the specialists.
>>“A before and an following”
Regarding the recent sanction of the national law for a comprehensive response to HIV, viral hepatitis, other sexually transmitted infections and tuberculosis, María Eugenia de Feo, president of the HCV Without Borders Foundation, remarked that it represents “a before and following in the era of viral hepatitis in Argentina and it is a measure that reinforces the will to go on the path towards the elimination of hepatitis C by 2030, as proposed by the World Health Organization”.
That the law be of ‘comprehensive response’ establishes the framework to guarantee coverage and access to diagnosis (providing for the obligation to proactively offer tests once morest hepatitis B and C) and interdisciplinary assistance (social, legal, psychological, medical and pharmacological , contemplating rehabilitation and even palliative care), not only for liver disease but also for associated comorbidities. It even provides for access to social rights, such as early retirement or pension where appropriate, it was reported.