August 2020
Romania 2030 with no hepatitis
World Hepatitis Day is celebrated every year on July 28, the date serving as an opportunity for the institutions involved to increase the degree of awareness and encourage real policy change to facilitate prevention, diagnosis and treatment of viral hepatitis. This year’s theme was “Find the missing millions”, drawing attention to the fact that there are still many people worldwide living with hepatitis B, C or D viruses without knowing it this is because they have not been diagnosed.
On 28 July 2020, the Romanian Association for Liver Diseases (RoALD), together with the GastRo Group of SNMF and the Association of Romanian Patients living with Hepatitis (APAH) organized a webinar on Romania 2030 without Hepatitis, on viral hepatitis during and after the COVID-19 pandemic.
Specialists in the field together with representatives from civil society organizations came together to take another step towards achieving the common goal of eradicating viral hepatitis, improving access to treatment, raising awareness and educating the public about the risks of the disease.
The Fundeni Clinical Institute, as a beneficiary of EU funded projects “Training program for healthcare professionals in Romania in the management of patients chronically infected with hepatitis B and C viruses – HEPATER ” and “ Live(Ro) 1– The training of Romanian healthcare professionals for the populational screening of chronic hepatitis B / C / D infections”, has joined in the fight to eradicate hepatitis, in line with the World Health Organization’s strategy, as well as the National Control Plan for viral hepatitis in Romania for the period 2019 – 2030, approved by order of the Minister of Health.
Within the two projects, training seminars were organized for improving the level of medical training dedicated to detection, transmission for staging and treatment of patients with chronic liver disease caused by hepatitis B / C and D viruses. Through LIVERO + HEPATER A total of 349 medical staff have benefited from this program. The objective that Romania has assumed through its adoption of the National Framework Plan for the control of viral hepatitis in Romania for the period 2019-2030 is to minimize the extent of viral hepatitis as a public health problem, by reducing the transmission of hepatitis viruses, reducing morbidity and mortality from viral hepatitis and its complications and by ensuring equitable access to comprehensive prevention, testing, care and treatment.
Through education and awareness raising we will be able to make the risks of infection with hepatitis B, C and D viruses more widely known, but health professionals along with civil society representatives need to work together continuously in order to improve the health of the population. We need to be united in the face of such threatening issues of public health. We, the team from the Fundeni Clinical Institute, will continue the fight against hepatitis.
Worldwide, 290 million people live with viral hepatitis without knowing this. If these people are not diagnosed and do not receive the right treatment, they can transmit the disease, they can face a decline in quality of life and health in the absence of proper treatment and can develop complications that can later lead to their death.
