The World Health Organization (WHO) Assembly promoted over four years ago the Global Health Sector Strategy on Viral Hepatitis for the 2016-2021 period and established the goal of eliminating hepatitis B and C in 2030. Then, Spain launched the Strategic Plan for Tackling Hepatitis C in the Spanish National Health System, designed in early 2015, which has allowed our country to be at the forefront of the world’s countries in the elimination of hepatitis C, only behind Iceland. This boost, added to an enormous collective effort, both by scientific organizations and the Spanish Ministry of Health, Consumer Affairs and Social Welfare, have made Spain one of the world leaders in the elimination of HCV and, with plans to eliminate it between 2023 and 2024, before the reference framework established by the WHO.

The COVID-19 pandemic is a barrier on the way to eliminating hepatitis C in our country and the rest of the world. This document reviews its impact on the diagnosis, treatment and potential elimination of hepatitis C in Spain, and includes a recommendation on the opportunity to offer HCV screening to people subjected to any type of diagnostic process for SARS-CoV-2 infection, including both theCOVID-19 diagnosis and vaccination against SARS-CoV-2.

Download the entire documente here.

 

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