Ammon News -
Experts Estimate The Majority Remain Undiagnosed. Consensus Statement On Challenges Announced On World Hepatitis Day

AMMONNEWS - Scientific medical experts from the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region jointly announced a consensus statement on the identification and challenges posed by chronic hepatitis C in this region, calling for national and local governments and health care providers to join forces to address this condition. Hepatitis C is highly prevalent in the MENA region with approximately 9.2 million individuals infected with this condition. The announcement was made at a press conference in Dubai on World Hepatitis Day, attended by international and MENA scientific medical experts.

The study undertaken in 2010, by the international scientific agency PharmARC with financial support of healthcare company MSD, comprised a search of the literature gauging the opinion of selected hepatitis C experts in MENA including Jordan. Its aim was to identify the challenges posed by hepatitis C. Following the outcomes of this research the experts met as a ‘clinical network’ to generate regional patient management and infection prevention recommendations, as well as country-specific research and initiatives to guide efforts toward addressing the Hepatitis C challenges.

Key conclusions reached from the study and by the Hepatitis C experts in Jordan include:
• Experts estimate that around 60% of patients are above 50 years and 40% belong to the 15-50 year age group.
• 60% of infected people are males and 40% are females.
• Around 60%-70% people have HCV genotype 4 and 30-40 % have genotype 1.
• There is a varied opinion among experts in ascertaining the socioeconomic class of people infected with hepatitis C.
• Most of the experts agree that around 40-50% of infections were acquired through blood products, 25% occurred through vertical transmission from mother to child prenatally and around 20% were acquired in healthcare settings, including haemodialysis units. Organ transplants accounted for 5% of the caseload. Transmission through IV drug abuse was not a significant problem in Jordan.

“Because our findings shed further light on the seriousness of the hepatitis C in MENA and because insufficient attention has been given to addressing the problem in the region - which has one of the highest prevalence of infection anywhere in the world - we agreed that our conclusions and recommendations should underpin a consensus statement on hepatitis C in MENA," said Professor David Goldberg, Professor of Public Health and Infectious Disease Epidemiology, Scotland. "We believe that such a statement will raise awareness of the problem among the population at large and people who have a responsibility for providing services to prevent both hepatitis C infection among those currently uninfected and hepatitis C related disease among infected individuals,” he added.

According to the White Paper on the Socio-Economic Burden of Hepatitis C, in some MENA countries, particularly those with a lower gross domestic product (GDP), a major route of infection is exposure to unsterile equipment in healthcare settings. The experts urge that strict infection control measures must be implemented according to best standard practices. In some MENA countries, an increasing number of people are becoming infected through injecting drug use and tattooing practices; for that reason, all countries should be aware of, and respond to, the emerging hepatitis C transmission threats posed by such behaviours.

With the consensus statement, the scientific medical experts call for a systematic approach to the collection of information on hepatitis C to improve the understanding of the size of the populations at risk, infected, diagnosed and treated populations, and the proportion of the infected population who have advanced liver disease. In addition, raising patients' awareness on the risks and treatment options needs to be improved.

“A program of awareness raising initiatives, aimed at both preventing and diagnosing hepatitis C, should be developed and implemented; these should be designed for the general population, school children and people belonging to high risk groups," added Waseem Tamim Hamoudi M.D., Consultant in Gastroenterology & Hepatology, Al Bashir Hospital, Ministry of Health, Amman, Jordan. "Infection control measures should be reviewed and further developed to ensure that individuals are not placed at risk of acquiring infection, particularly in health care settings. Initiatives to promote public access to hepatitis C testing, and thus the early detection of infection among those at increased risk, should be implemented.”

As many of the issues relating to hepatitis C are common to all countries throughout the region, the experts recommend that MENA countries should support each other by sharing best practices and technical advice and by generating guidelines to be used at a regional level. A government led action plan to implement the recommendations of the consensus statement should be developed with national and local multidisciplinary networks for prevention, care and treatment to promote a consistent and effective approach to the management of hepatitis C.

About PharmARC

Founded in 2004, PharmARC is a 100% life sciences focused company that provides analytic solutions for efficient commercialization of drugs and medical products. The team comprises of over 200 highly qualified personnel including technical analysts, software engineers, statisticians, physicians and domain industry and forecasting experts. Today PharmARC’s client list includes over 50 major healthcare companies in the world of which 15 figure among the top 20 global pharmaceutical players. The company has its headquarters in Bangalore, India with offices in Basel, New Jersey and presence in Paris, London, Shanghai and Seoul.

About MSD
Today's MSD is a global healthcare leader working to help the world be well. MSD is a trade name of Merck & Co., Inc., with headquarters in Whitehouse Station, N.J., U.S.A. Through our prescription medicines, vaccines, biologic therapies, and consumer care and animal health products, we work with customers and operate in more than 140 countries to deliver innovative health solutions. We also demonstrate our commitment to increasing access to healthcare through far-reaching policies, programs and partnerships. For more information, visit www.msd.com