The Ministry of Public Health (MoPH) and its partners commemorates the World Hepatitis Day Tuesday. It is held this year under the slogan "Hepatitis-free future", with a focus on protecting mothers and newborns from the hepatitis B virus.
World Hepatitis Day is an opportunity to reinforce efforts to implement the first global strategy developed by the World Health Organisation on viral hepatitis for 2016-2021 and to help countries achieve the ultimate goal of eliminating hepatitis.
The fight against hepatitis is one of the priorities of the health system in Qatar in light of the complications resulting from infection such as cirrhosis, liver failure and liver cancer, and it is one of the complications that are difficult to treat and a major burden on the health system.
Qatar also follows a strategic approach to control and eliminate viral hepatitis through the joint efforts of the MoPH, Hamad Medical Corp (HMC), Primary Health Care Corp (PHCC), Qatar Red Crescent, the private sector and many local and global partners.
The MoPH, HMC, PHCC and national partners are keen to implement awareness-raising campaigns about the disease, as well as a number of early screening campaigns for hepatitis C, which have shown a low incidence of this disease, as the prevalence of inflammation Type C liver is 0.8% among the entire population, and this percentage reached 0.25% only among Qatari citizens.
According to the WHO, Qatar is classified among the countries with a low burden of hepatitis B, with a prevalence of less than 2%.
In the event that any of the cases with hepatitis are discovered, they will be transferred to HMC, where they have been treated with the latest and most effective medical drugs for the treatment of hepatitis C, known as direct-acting antiviral agents drugs, which are provided by Qatar free of charge to all citizens and residents at HMC, in co-operation with Qatar Red Crescent, the private sector and many partners in the country.
So far, more than 4,000 patients have been treated at HMC and very high cure rates have been achieved.
The national working group for hepatitis C, which includes all the effective partners in combating the disease in Qatar, conducted many scientific research in co-operation with distinguished international institutions and was published in the most prestigious international scientific journals and presented in a number of international conferences,
Qatar has received many international acclaim through scientific reports presented at the World Hepatitis Summit in Brazil early Nov. 2017, which indicated that Qatar is among the nine countries in the world that is on the right path to eliminate the hepatitis C virus by 2030.
Qatar, in co-operation with the WHO, set the strategic framework to combat hepatitis in the country for the period 2018-2022, and the framework includes five strategic guidelines covering activities that enhance co-ordination efforts between different sectors, and ensure the provision of a high level of quality of epidemiological information on the disease, providing all preventive and curative hepatitis services and achieving comprehensive coverage of these services as well as providing the necessary resources.
The strategic framework to combat hepatitis focuses on the implementation of the goals related to the National Health Strategy 2018-2022 and the Public Health Strategy 2017-2022, and the strategic framework has been adopted by officials of the national program to fight hepatitis.
World Hepatitis Day is an opportunity to reinforce efforts to implement the first global strategy developed by the World Health Organisation on viral hepatitis for 2016-2021 and to help countries achieve the ultimate goal of eliminating hepatitis.
The fight against hepatitis is one of the priorities of the health system in Qatar in light of the complications resulting from infection such as cirrhosis, liver failure and liver cancer, and it is one of the complications that are difficult to treat and a major burden on the health system.
Qatar also follows a strategic approach to control and eliminate viral hepatitis through the joint efforts of the MoPH, Hamad Medical Corp (HMC), Primary Health Care Corp (PHCC), Qatar Red Crescent, the private sector and many local and global partners.
The MoPH, HMC, PHCC and national partners are keen to implement awareness-raising campaigns about the disease, as well as a number of early screening campaigns for hepatitis C, which have shown a low incidence of this disease, as the prevalence of inflammation Type C liver is 0.8% among the entire population, and this percentage reached 0.25% only among Qatari citizens.
According to the WHO, Qatar is classified among the countries with a low burden of hepatitis B, with a prevalence of less than 2%.
In the event that any of the cases with hepatitis are discovered, they will be transferred to HMC, where they have been treated with the latest and most effective medical drugs for the treatment of hepatitis C, known as direct-acting antiviral agents drugs, which are provided by Qatar free of charge to all citizens and residents at HMC, in co-operation with Qatar Red Crescent, the private sector and many partners in the country.
So far, more than 4,000 patients have been treated at HMC and very high cure rates have been achieved.
The national working group for hepatitis C, which includes all the effective partners in combating the disease in Qatar, conducted many scientific research in co-operation with distinguished international institutions and was published in the most prestigious international scientific journals and presented in a number of international conferences,
Qatar has received many international acclaim through scientific reports presented at the World Hepatitis Summit in Brazil early Nov. 2017, which indicated that Qatar is among the nine countries in the world that is on the right path to eliminate the hepatitis C virus by 2030.
Qatar, in co-operation with the WHO, set the strategic framework to combat hepatitis in the country for the period 2018-2022, and the framework includes five strategic guidelines covering activities that enhance co-ordination efforts between different sectors, and ensure the provision of a high level of quality of epidemiological information on the disease, providing all preventive and curative hepatitis services and achieving comprehensive coverage of these services as well as providing the necessary resources.
The strategic framework to combat hepatitis focuses on the implementation of the goals related to the National Health Strategy 2018-2022 and the Public Health Strategy 2017-2022, and the strategic framework has been adopted by officials of the national program to fight hepatitis.
