The Ghana Health Service (GHS) has started a nationwide initiative to provide infected individuals with free hepatitis C treatment.
As part of attempts to eradicate the public health issue by 2030, the Screening and Treatment Opportunity Program (STOP) hepatitis C program seeks to connect an initial 50,000 individuals to free treatment across the nation.
The Ministry of Health and the Egyptian government are helping the GHS manage the initiative.
The initial 50,000 cases of hepatitis C in Egypt will be fully treated with the 150,000 courses of sofosbuvir and daclatasvir that have already been provided by the Egyptian government.
Aldesouky Mahmoud Youssef, the Egyptian Ambassador to Ghana, delivered the drugs to Mahama Asei-Seini, the deputy minister of health.
Dr. Patrick Kuma-Aboagye, the Director-General of the GHS, also gave it to Dr. Franklin Asiedu-Bekoe, the Director of Public Health of the GHS, for distribution to the proper parties.
The deputy minister conveyed the nation's appreciation to the Egyptian government and people for their assistance.
Context
The GHS reports that although the disease is present in four out of every 100 persons who were tested, the national response has been hampered by the high expense of pre-treatment exams and therapy, as well as by limited access to treatment.
According to research done by the Daily Graphic, pre-test exams cost between GH2,000 and GH3,000, while treatment costs close to GH7,000, which is beyond the price range of many Ghanaians.
Hope
Dr. Kuma-Aboagye remarked in his welcoming speech at the initiative's debut that the project offered hope to the thousands of Ghanaians suffering from the ailment who had access to therapy or couldn't afford care.
He said that the high cost and restricted availability of pre-treatment and therapy for hepatitis C still posed a public health concern for the nation.
However, according to Dr. Kuma-Aboagye, patients are still responsible for the pre-treatment fee.
The initiative has four parts, according to him: project management, enhancing hepatitis reporting systems, moving to a long-term strategy, and linking to care.
According to Dr. Kuma-Aboagye, all parties stayed dedicated to the plan until the disease was completely eradicated from the nation.
He urged people to be aware of their hepatitis status in order to enhance health outcomes and avoid long-term problems like liver cancer.
Egypt's march to oblivion: Africa Project
In a statement, the Egyptian Ambassador to Ghana said that the STOP hepatitis initiative was a component of Egypt's strategy to aid in the eradication of Hepatitis C in Africa by using the lessons learned from curing the condition in Egypt and providing pharmaceuticals for treatment.
According to him, Egypt started an intensive screening and treatment campaign in 2014 that eventually became a national policy that assisted in the eradication of HCV as a threat to the public's health.
The prevalence of HCV infection among adults in Egypt was among the highest in the world in 2015, accounting for 7.6% of the global total.
"The Egyptian Minister of Health and Population, Dr. Hala Zaid, declared during the 2019 African Hepatitis Summit that Egypt will offer HCV testing and treatment to one million individuals in 14 African nations."
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