Italy Leads in Treating European Hepatitis C Patients, but More Screening and Awareness Needed for Elimination Goals
Italy currently has the highest number of European patients treated for hepatitis C, but experts warn that increasing participation in screening and extending the eligible population are crucial in achieving the elimination objectives set by the World Health Organization (WHO) by 2030.
This message emerged from the conference “A collaboration pact: from the regional elimination of hepatitis C to the new challenges for liver health” organized by the Istituto Superiore di Sanità with the patronage of the Ministry of Health and in collaboration with Aisf (Association Italian Society for Liver Studies) and Simit (Italian Society of Infectious and Tropical Diseases).
Since 2015, around 260,000 patients in Italy have been treated and have completely eliminated the virus, significantly reducing the “social” and “health” burden of the disease. This has already allowed Italy to reach the WHO’s goal of reducing HCV-related mortality by 65%. However, only 30% of the target population was actively invited for hepatitis C screening, with just 21% of those invited actually getting screened, representing 6.6% of the entire target population.
The fund for screening the general population, as well as for target populations such as prisoners and users of Addiction Services (SerD), is a unique public health intervention in European Union countries. But representatives of the regions highlighted the ineffectiveness of communication campaigns, calling for a centralized communication and awareness campaign.
As of June 30 last year, the free national screening launched in Italy has allowed almost a million people to be tested and identified over 10,000 cases of active infection. “Diagnosis and treatment to totally eliminate active HCV infection must be considered as an achievable goal and one to believe in. This represents our real challenge in the near future,” concluded the president of the Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Rocco Bellantone.