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Movement for global access to hepatitis C treatment building momentum
Keith Alcorn, 2013-05-09 10:00:00
Access to hepatitis C treatment in low- and middle-income countries is being restricted by the high cost of interferon and a lack of commitment to treating the disease, leading to a growing gap between the prospects of patients in the wealthiest nations and the rest of the world, advocates reported at the 48th International Liver Congress (EASL 2013) in Amsterdam last month.
Two symposia at the congress drew attention to the global treatment gap for hepatitis C, and began to signpost a path towards wider access. To coincide with the conference, Médecins sans Frontières (MSF) also published a technical landscape report, highlighting “opportunities to revolutionise care in developing countries”.
Around 150 to 180 million people are estimated to have chronic hepatitis C infection worldwide. Around half of those people live in Asia. There is no accurate estimate of the size of the global population already in need of treatment to prevent further progression of liver disease, but up to one in five people who become infected may develop cirrhosis without treatment.
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