Strategic Directions for Hepatitis C improving access to and uptake of hepatitis C treatment services.

One of the key points of this unreleased document, (Rumour has it will be never released as it involves the New Zealand Ministry of Health  acknowledging they have a major problem and actually doing something about it , i.e. spending money.)

Key action area 4 Improving knowledge about HCV prevalence in the New Zealand population and within sub groups.

HCV is a notifiable disease in New Zealand, but is really notified.

In Australia they operate a national registry for HCV the register gathers notifications from care providers and reference laboratories. Reference laboratory notifications in Australia make up 90% of all notifications.

It seems logical then to introduce  a laboratory notification system here in New Zealand to give accurate information on the number of people of people in New Zealand with HCV similar to what already occurs for HIV and aids notifications.

It seem a fundamental first step to dealing with any contagious disease is to effectively measure it’s prevalence we hope 2010 is the year the New Zealand  Ministry of health make this a priority.

Small chance of being diagnosed and treated for hepatitis C in New Zealand

I had an interesting conversation the other day.  Bob was saying how great he felt after completing Hepatitis C Treatment a couple of years back. We agreed the treatment sucked but the change in your health after completing successful treatment can be miraculous, he claimed to feel like he was 16 again, although I don’t feel that good the energy levels were back and I do feel healthy.

Bob claimed he could get up in the early morning climb a mountain shoot a deer, gut it out and climb back down with a dead deer on his back and then go and work all day. Me I’m just happy not to be constantly exhausted all the time.

Small chance of being diagnosed and treated for hepatitis C in New Zealand. Based on the fact that nationally approximately 300 people are treated per year and 50,000 are estimated to have hepatitis C. Made me feel lucky and thankful.

It always amazes just how wide spread people with Hepatitis C are and how little they talk about it because of the perceived stigma of the disease.

Some don’t seek hepatitis C treatment

NEW YORK, Nov. 10 (UPI) — U.S. researchers say patients with more difficult to treat forms of hepatitis C are half as likely to get treatment as those with easier to treat forms.

Dr. Thomas McGinn of Mount Sinai School of Medicine said the researchers also found marital status also affected whether patients chose treatment for hepatitis C.

“Overall, in general only about 30 percent of hepatitis C patients choose to initiate treatment for the disease,” the senior author said in a statement. “It’s a huge problem that needs to be addressed. This study confirms that genotype is a major barrier to treatment. We hope these findings will lead to changes in how physicians approach patient care in a way that increases the rate of treatment initiation.”

In this study, of the 168 treatment-eligible patients, 41 began treatment and 127 did not — or 24 percent sought treatment. Patients with genotypes 1 and 4 of the disease, which are less responsive to treatment, were less likely to initiate treatment, as were unmarried patients and patients with multiple diseases, or medical comorbidities.

The findings are published in the of Journal of Health Care for the Poor and Underserved.

http://www.upi.com/Health_News/2009/11/ … 257886770/

Hep c new treatment tested New Zealand

A recent news release about some successful hepatitis C   New Zealand Drug trial’s,  Interesting about US not allowing drug  trial within US, but ok for New Zealand and Australia etc

Hep c new treatment tested Wellington, Nov 6 NZPA - Researchers are claiming success in a New Zealand clinical trial of antiviral drugs used against the hepatitis C virus (HCV).

A combination of two experimental anti virals led to dramatic reductions in viral loads during the 13-day pilot trial, according to Edward Gane, of Auckland Clinical Studies.

Hepatitis C is a virus carried in the blood that can damage the liver, leading to cirrhosis (scarring), failure and cancer, and it has infected more than 30,000 New Zealanders.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in the United States does not permit the illness to be treated without interferon- because of concerns such treatments could provoke resistance to drugs that might otherwise remain effective.

The drugs’ lead developer, Roche, said in a statement that phase two clinical trials would start early next year, though the studies must continue to be conducted outside the US because of the FDA policy on interferon.

Health Cheque

Been reading Health Cheque the truth we should all know about New Zealand’s public health system. A new book Gareth Morgan and Geoff Simmons

A great read about the New Zealand Health system, dissecting the subject well, what gets funded who gets treated; it’s well written and balanced in its approach.  Haven’t finished book yet but it is surprisingly readable, and insightful so far

Health Cheque link

NZ Needle exchange success

Thursday, 19 November, 2009 - 14:40 scoop link

Recent data has confirmed that New Zealand’s Needle Exchange Programme is one of the most successful in the world, but we could do even better, says Needle Exchange New Zealand National “Manager Charles Henderson.

He said, however, that a reduction in hepatitis C levels was the most pleasing result of all.

“Our 2004 study revealed that nearly three out of four New Zealand injecting drug users had been exposed to the hepatitis C virus. This year’s study indicates a significant drop in this statistic to around half.

Hepatitis C is a virus that can cause liver disease, leading to years of ill health and possibly even death. It can only be caught via the exchange of blood from an infected person. It is a significant risk for those drug users who share needles or other injecting paraphernalia.

The latest Household Drug Survey indicates 2 percent of New Zealanders inject or have injected drugs at some point in their lives, many of whom do so only occasionally or recreationally. This means 85,000 people are potentially susceptible to blood-borne viruses from drug use.” Charles Henderson

I   think needle exchanges are a good place to engage with active drug users with hepatitis C.  I think they are a key public health initiative New Zealand can be proud off. Lots of potential for preventative health savings in getting the needle exchange program working better and decreasing future spread of hepatitis C.

It is important to realise that the majority of people with hepatitis c don’t attend needle exchanges any more , Charles figures seem to suggest a 25% decrease in the numbers of people with hepatitis C attending  the needle exchange.

“The largest undiagnosed pool of people with HCV are likely to be those aged 40 – 60 years old, who were infected 25 – 40 years ago, who at that time occasionally (or even once) injected illicit drugs , but went on to lead ‘conventional lives’.  (Strategic Directions for Hepatitis C : Improving access to and uptake of hepatitis C treatment services.)

It seems that targeting hepatitis C education funding and programs to needle exchange programs misses the largest group of people with hepatitis C.   The needle exchange is a fantastic cost effective prevention and education program targeting active drug users not all people with Hepatitis c are active drug users.  Associating drug use and hepatitis C just builds and reinforces the stigma associated with Hepatitis C.

Jim Anderton MP made a great speech when opening the Christchurch needle exchange new location.

Anderton: Opening the new Rodger Wright Centre
Friday, 20 November 2009, 2:56 pm
Press Release: Progressive Party

“As a politician, I know that to make a difference to peoples’ lives, more often than not, means going the extra mile. I thank you for your commitment.

I wish we didn’t need this programme. I wish we didn’t have drug use causing the harm it does, wrecking the lives of many people, and wrecking many communities. But it does happen. It will keep happening.

And if we care about vulnerable victims then our responsibility is to reduce the harm to them as much as we can. The needle exchange programme does just that and I continue to support it for that reason.”

scoop here

Injecting, Infection, Illness: Abjection and Hepatitis C Stigma

Magdalena Harris

While Social Research has documented the prevalence and ill effects of Hepatitis C related stigma,

Magdalena discuses ways in which this stigmas is constituted

Three components central to hepatitis C stigma

1. illicit injecting

2. infectiousness and

3. societal aversion to chronic illness

Magdalena is a peer a great writer and world expert on Hepatitis C.  I always enjoy reading and learning from what she has to say, this contains some déjà vu moments where she has managed to capture the essence of many people’s experiences with Hepatitis C. Well worth a read.

Injecting, Infection, Illness: Abjection and Hepatitis C Stigma

Get tested campaign

Get tested campaign from UK  Words of wisdom from Topper Headon and others about getting treated  Get tested get treated now.

Get Tested! from Ross Aitken on Vimeo.

Have a great Holiday season

Best of health

www.hcv.org.nz