Big drop in hepatitis C cases: health ministry

The results of a campaign to conduct early screening for hepatitis C, carried out by the Ministry of Public Health in co-operation with the Primary Health Care Corp, show a significant reduction in the prevalence of the disease. The campaign included more than 7,600 patients.The results revealed a significant decrease in the number of hepatitis C cases.A number of positive cases were transferred to HMC and treated with the latest and most effective medical drugs known as “Direct antiviral drugs” provided by the State of Qatar free of charge to all citizens and residents through the Liver Diseases Department of Hamad Medical Corp, in co-operation with Qatar Red Crescent, private sector and many other partners in the country.The Ministry of Public Health in co-operation with the Ministry of Education and Higher Education carried out a campaign among school students to detect hepatitis B.The campaign showed no cases of any disease, which reflects the high coverage of the immunisation programme against this disease in Qatar.The State of Qatar is participating in World Hepatitis Day, which is scheduled on the 28th of July every year and is held under the slogan ‘Elimination of Hepatitis’. World Hepatitis Day is an opportunity to enhance efforts to implement the WHO Global Health Strategy for 2016-2021 and to help countries achieve the goal of eradicating hepatitis.The Ministry of Public Health, Hamad Medical Corp and the Primary Health Care Corp, together with national partners, are carrying out awareness campaigns to fight the disease.The ministry also held a number of national seminars and workshops for medical staff to raise their competence in identifying and treating the disease in line with the directives of the World Health Organization, which urges decision makers, medical workers and members of the community to identify viral hepatitis and take practical steps to enable early examination of the disease in order to get the appropriate treatment.The fight against hepatitis is one of the priorities of the health system in the State of Qatar because of the severe complications that could result from this infection such as cirrhosis, liver failure and liver cancer, complications which are difficult to treat and a major burden on the health system.The prevalence of hepatitis C is 0.8% among the entire population of Qatar, with only 0.25% among Qataris.According to World Health Organization, the State of Qatar is also classified as a low-burden type B hepatitis, with a prevalence rate of less than 2 per cent.The State of Qatar adopts a strategy to eradicate this disease through the joint efforts of the Ministry of Public Health, Hamad Medical Corp, Primary Health Care Corp, Qatar Red Crescent, the private sector and many local and international partners, which represents a good model for fruitful and continuous co-operation between the government sector, foundations, charities and the private sector in the health sector.The strategy is based on raising health awareness and early detection of the disease, providing effective treatment for patients with an accurate monitoring system, and maintaining high vaccination rates against hepatitis B.The WHO recommends early screening of the disease through laboratory tests.These tests are available in the State of Qatar to enable citizens and residents to conduct it in order to take the appropriate treatment.