The Xunta will close this month the Galician strategy for the elimination of hepatitis C – Xunta de Galicia

The Xunta de Galicia will present this month its strategy for the elimination of hepatitis C in Galicia. This was announced today in a Parliamentary Commission by the General Director of Public Health of the Ministry of Health, Carmen Durán, who advanced that this new strategy will have as its main objective the reduction of morbidity and mortality associated with this disease, as well as the elimination of the hepatitis C as a public health problem in the community, all in line with that established by the World Health Organization. During his speech in the 5th Committee on Health, Social Policy and Employment, Durán announced that the Galician Strategy for the Elimination of Hepatitis C in Galicia will work on 3 lines of action: the reinforcement of epidemiological surveillance, which will make it possible to quantify the current magnitude of the problem, primary prevention with health promotion programs and actions to reduce incidents and the risk of exposure to the virus, and a third line of secondary prevention to detect and treat existing infections earlier. In view of the results of different studies, the general director of Public Health of the Ministry of Health stressed that the ideal strategy to achieve the elimination of hepatitis C as a public health problem in Galicia involves screening the people included in the groups with the highest risk of transmission, combined with the screening of the age groups with the highest prevalence of this virus. The strategy also contemplates the active search for patients to facilitate the diagnosis and treatment of undetected cases of infection, and of all untreated or uncured cases of hepatitis C, as explained by the general director. The Galician Strategy for the elimination of hepatitis C in Galicia will also address improvements in the care process, such as reducing the time between diagnosis and treatment, improving the percentage of diagnosed patients who start treatment and comply with it, and follow-up of patients undergoing treatment to verify the achievement of sustained viral response. Galicia, the first to implement the Strategic Plan for the Approach to Hepatitis C Likewise, Carmen Durán recalled in her speech the work carried out by the Galician health system in the prevention of this disease, since Galicia was the first community in Spain to implement The Strategic Plan for the Approach to Hepatitis C in the National Health System became effective in 2015. From that date and until 2021, a total of 8,495 patients were treated with direct-acting antiviral drugs, of which more than 97% presented sustained viral response. Galicia also made progress in these years in the diagnosis of this disease, launching in 2018 the diagnosis in a single step, which made it possible to identify and retrospectively characterize patients with active infection by the virus, identifying 258 patients with infection unknown active. All in all, in Galicia interventions are being carried out in events with a massive influx of young people regarding information on drugs and their prevention; periodic calls for aid to drug addiction prevention projects and free syringe exchange programs. Also, from the health areas they develop initiatives for the recruitment, diagnosis and treatment of patients with hepatitis C, which include the active search for diagnosed and uncured cases, or micro-elimination programs in risk groups. Despite the undoubted progress, Galicia continues in its fight against this disease with the new Strategy for the elimination of hepatitis C, which will be presented this month.