HepVoice October 2019
Welcome to hepVoice. It has been an exciting couple of months for the World Hepatitis Alliance and
the global hepatitis community. In September I attended the High-Level Meeting on Universal Health
Coverage (UHC). Thanks to advocacy led by WHA viral hepatitis was included in the UHC Political
Declaration signed at the meeting. Civil society will now play a crucial role in advocating for
countries to make hepatitis elimination a cornerstone of their UHC responses.
Service integration will also be key for countries in their UHC responses. This month WHA gathered
support for an open letter to the Global Fund to urge the proactive exploration of areas in which hepatitis
programmes can be integrated with existing HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria programmes. The
letter, signed by over 800 people, was sent to the Global Fund on the eve of their replenishment
meeting in Lyon where they aimed to raise $14 billion for the fight against HIV, malaria and
tuberculosis. You can read more about our campaign on page 11.
Partnerships will be another cornerstone of UHC. Working together we can achieve more, and to that
end WHA is delighted to announce partnerships with UNITE, the global policymakers network, and
IAPAC, the organisers of Fast- Track Cities. These partnerships will help to accelerate hepatitis
elimination; you can read more about them on pages 8 and 12.
You may have noticed that the magazine has had a small makeover. Last month we asked for your
feedback on how we could improve hepVoice and I would like to thank you for all the comments that
you gave us. We have decided that we will be running the magazine in a similar format for the
remainder of 2019 whilst we make exciting changes to how you receive
hepVoice in the future as we look to make it accessible on different platforms and in different
languages. In the meantime, I hope you enjoy this issue of hepVoice.
CEO Welcome
Welcome to hepVoice. It has been an exciting couple of months for the World Hepatitis Alliance and
the global hepatitis community. In September I attended the High-Level Meeting on Universal Health
Coverage (UHC). Thanks to advocacy led by WHA viral hepatitis was included in the UHC Political
Declaration signed at the meeting. Civil society will now play a crucial role in advocating for
countries to make hepatitis elimination a cornerstone of their UHC responses.
Service integration will also be key for countries in their UHC responses. This month WHA gathered
support for an open letter to the Global Fund to urge the proactive exploration of areas in which hepatitis
programmes can be integrated with existing HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria programmes. The
letter, signed by over 800 people, was sent to the Global Fund on the eve of their replenishment
meeting in Lyon where they aimed to raise $14 billion for the fight against HIV, malaria and
tuberculosis. You can read more about our campaign on page 11.
Partnerships will be another cornerstone of UHC. Working together we can achieve more, and to that
end WHA is delighted to announce partnerships with UNITE, the global policymakers network, and
IAPAC, the organisers of Fast- Track Cities. These partnerships will help to accelerate hepatitis
elimination; you can read more about them on pages 8 and 12.
You may have noticed that the magazine has had a small makeover. Last month we asked for your
feedback on how we could improve hepVoice and I would like to thank you for all the comments that
you gave us. We have decided that we will be running the magazine in a similar format for the
remainder of 2019 whilst we make exciting changes to how you receive
hepVoice in the future as we look to make it accessible on different platforms and in different
languages. In the meantime, I hope you enjoy this issue of hepVoice.
HepHeadlines
Almost 100,00 people in UK unaware they are living with hepatitis
Public Health England (PHE) have announced that tens of thousands of people in the UK are unaware
they are living with hepatitis C.
Data from 2018 showed that around 143,000 people in the UK were living with the virus.
However, up to 95,600 people may be unaware they have it, preventing them from seeking treatment.
People who believe they may have been at risk of contracting hepatitis C are being advised to take
a quiz on the Hepatitis C Trust website to find out if they should be tested for
the virus. PHE is especially urging anyone who has ever injected drugs to take the quiz.
Dr Helen Harris, Senior Scientist at PHE, said, “Anyone who may be at risk of infection, in
particular those who have ever injected drugs, even if they injected only once or twice in the
past, should get tested. Given that new treatments provide a cure in around 95 per cent of those
who take them, there has never been a better time to get tested.”
Click here to read more.
Chinese Taipei (Taiwan)’s government sets target to eliminate hepatitis by 2025
The Executive Yuan (the executive branch of
the government of the Republic of China on Taiwan), has announced their goal of eliminating
hepatitis as a health threat by 2025. This is five years ahead of the World Health Organization’s
(WHO) goal.
With an average of 7,000 new hepatitis C cases every year, it is estimated that 40,000 people in
Taiwan are living with the virus.
The cure rate for hepatitis C has increased in Taiwan, and Ministry of Health and Welfare official,
Pu Ruo-fang, credits a new internal drug for the improvement. After the drug was added
to the list of National Health Insurance-covered medicine, the cure rate for the infection reached
98.5 per cent.
In total, 9,538 people were cured by this drug in 2017, and a further
20,000 people were cured after the government increased subsidies for the drug.
Click here to read more.