Hepatitis elimination: Rwanda on the last mile
-
Loading... - Victoria Munene
- 04 Aug 2022
- 95 Views
- 0 Like
- 0 Comment
The Ministry of Health, Rwanda Biomedical Centre and several government’s health development partners came together and joined the rest of the world’s efforts to celebrate World Hepatitis Day.
Several partners, government officials and programs beneficiaries have commended Rwanda for being on the last mile to eliminate Hepatitis in Rwanda, after listing several of its milestones to mitigate the disease.
The estimated prevalence of chronic Hepatitis C and B has dropped from 4 percent and more than 3 percent in 2015 to less than 0.39 percent and 0.35 percent respectively in 2022.
Rwanda was selected among seven countries that were assessed for hepatitis elimination validation readiness and was qualified to be on track for hepatitis C elimination.
The other countries are England, Brazil, Egypt, Thailand, Georgia and Mongolia. The country has also negotiated a price record from $1,200 to only $60 for the full three months’ treatment course of hepatitis C.
Among other milestones, Rwanda simplified the diagnostics and treatment methods by introducing Rapid Diagnostic Tests (RDTs) providing results in 20 minutes and Direct Acting Antiretrovirals (DAAs) for a three month HCV treatment course with less or no side effects and a cure rate of more than 90%.
The figures from Rwanda Biomedical Centre indicate that more than 7,000,000 people including children have been screened against Hepatitis C and 60,000 of them have been treated and cured.
Additionally, more than 7,000,000 people have been vaccinated against Hepatitis B as 4,000,000 have been vaccinated and 60,000 were treated and cured from the disease.
The treatment and testing services have also been decentralized at different levels including referral, provincial and district hospitals as well as different health centres across the country, among other achievements. Read More...
