“Today’s World Hepatitis Day is an invaluable opportunity to raise awareness and awareness of a serious public health threat. All possible actions must be taken to combat this disease and protect the health of the liver, which is essential for life.
Prevention, early diagnosis and improvement of effective therapies, also thanks to research, are the strategic axes on which to act and we are doing so in particular through the screening free national program for HCV infection, the interventions envisaged by the 2020-2025 National Prevention Plan and the updating of the National Plan for the Prevention of Viral Hepatitis B and C (PNEV), in light of the new therapeutic opportunities and in order to align it to more ambitious hepatitis elimination goals. A goal to which we devote the maximum effort”.
This is what the Minister of Health, Orazio Schillaci, declares.
World Hepatitis Day, World Hepatitis Day was established by the World Health Organization (WHO) on the day of the birth of Baruch Blumberg (July 28, 1925), the US biochemist awarded the Nobel Prize for discovering the Hepatitis B virus in 1967 and developing the first vaccine, the The anniversary represents an opportunity to turn the spotlight on this infection and recall the urgency of the efforts necessary to eliminate hepatitis as a threat to public health by 2030, a goal to which the various countries of the world adhered in 2016.
Il claim, chosen this year by the WHO “One life, one liver” (One life, one liver), is a warning that reminds us that liver health is essential for human health. This precious organ silently performs more than 500 functions that are essential for life every day. Even viral hepatitis acts silently, with symptoms appearing only when the disease is in an advanced stage. Although there are different types of hepatitis viruses (from A to E), hepatitis B (HBV) e C (HCV) are the most relevant and cause nearly 8,000 new infections every day globally, which mostly go undetected. More than one million hepatitis-related deaths occur each year, many of which could have been prevented. In fact, there are effective vaccines and treatments for hepatitis B, and a cure is available for hepatitis C.
Early diagnosis plays a fundamental role in the fight against hepatitis. Diagnosing the infection in people unaware that they are infected avoids the complications of advanced liver disease and allows the circulation of the virus to be interrupted, preventing new infections. To be able to detect the presence of the hepatitis virus just a simple test.
Italy’s commitment
Italy is committed on several fronts to achieve the WHO goal:
It was funded screening free national program for HCV infection, which is aimed at citizens born between 1969 and 1989, users of Addiction Services (SerD) and prisoners in prison (Ministerial decree 14 May 2021), already active or being implemented in various Regions. Adherence to the Guidelines and current legislation for the implementation of the screening for HBV and HCV it is among the strategic objectives of the National Plan for Prevention 2020-2025; the strategic line of interventions envisages the promotion of specific multidisciplinary management protocols through suitable tools and channels. The Working Group for the organic and coordinated review of the National Plan for the fight against viral hepatitis B and C, set up at the Ministry of Health, is updating the National Plan for the Prevention of Viral Hepatitis B and C (PNEV) issued in 2015, in particular in the light of the new but by now consolidated opportunities in the therapeutic field, and to align it with the more ambitious objectives of eliminating hepatitis. The group also produced the document National guidelines on diagnostic therapeutic care pathways for hepatitis C virus infection, approved in the State-Regions Conference on 27 July 2022, which aims to guarantee correct and homogeneous use on the national territory of therapeutic tools available for the treatment of HCV infection.
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