World Hepatitis Day, which will be celebrated on July 28, represents an important occasion to bring attention back to hepatitis C and the global elimination goals set by the WHO by 2030.
On July 28, as part of the activities of the campaign C as Curable, promoted by Gilead Sciences with the patronage of patient associations, scientific societies and bodies operating in the area of infectious diseases, a direct Instagram dedicated to hepatitis C will be held, created in collaboration with the FriendZ Enterprise community, an ecosystem of vertical communities integrated with the main social media , and with the EpaC Onlus Patient Association, which will see the participation and testimony of Massimiliano Conforti – Vice President EpaC Onlus, recovered from the disease.
Starting from the message “You cannot remember everything you did in the past” and from Massimiliano’s personal experience, people will be made aware of the methods of contagion and risk behaviors, the importance of taking the test as the only tool to detect the presence of the virus and the fact that hepatitis C is finally curable today. The goal is to generate awareness around hepatitis C and educate on how to prevent, diagnose and treat it. In fact, today hepatitis C is finally curable.
With COVID-19, screening activities, diagnosis and treatment of hepatitis C have suffered a significant decline, a slowdown in the path of elimination that threatens to distance Italy from the objectives of the WHO. Precisely for this reason we can no longer wait.
On the occasion of the World Day against Hepatitis, the C come Curabile campaign included some important digital initiatives aimed at the general population to reopen the debate on hepatitis C and continue the path of information and awareness on HCV, which began in 2020 with the aim of fighting the disease even during the pandemic. Through the site ccomecurabile.it and digital initiatives, the C as treatable campaign aims to raise awareness of the infection in all its aspects and draw attention to the importance of getting tested.
Carrying out the HCV test is today the only way to detect the presence of the virus, bring out the submerged and identify the numerous cases of people unaware of having contracted the infection, which today in Italy are estimated to be about 250-300,000 people[1]. A fundamental goal to achieve the elimination of the infection, now possible thanks to drugs capable of treating it in over 90% of cases[2]. In this direction in Italy, through the Milleproroghe Decree which will soon come into force, 71.5 million euros have also been allocated to carry out a free screening campaign on all people born between 1969 and 1989, people followed by the SerD and inmates in prisons.
In 2021, the C as curable campaign was enriched with new contents, which can be consulted and downloaded in a new dedicated section on the ccomecurabile.it site, dedicated to people over 50 years of age, among whom today there is the greatest prevalence of hepatitis C. The goal is to inform and encourage people of this age group to take the test: the over 50s are in fact the population group most at risk of Hepatitis C, because before 1989[4] the HCV virus had not yet been discovered and consequently neither the methods of contagion nor the forms of prevention were known. Many people have therefore contracted the disease without knowing it and without knowing the risks it entails.
Identifying the presence of the infection and treating it is essential because not only can the serious consequences to which the disease leads, such as cirrhosis or liver cancer, be avoided, but it is also possible to improve some extrahepatic problems that often occur together with it. The invitation for everyone is to take the test!
About Gilead Sciences
Gilead Sciences is a research-based biopharmaceutical company committed to the discovery, development and commercialization of innovative drugs for very serious diseases. Therapeutic areas we focus on include HIV / AIDS, liver disease, hematology and oncology, inflammatory and respiratory diseases. Gilead has been present in Italy for 20 years and actively collaborates with institutional, scientific, academic, industrial and local community partners to develop and make therapies available to Italian patients.