Tomorrow (Thursday 28 July) is World Hepatitis Day.
Hepatitis C can cause serious and potentially life-threatening damage to the liver.
Hepatitis Scotland will host an online event on Thursday 28 July from 1pm to 2.15pm which will focus on providing an overview of hepatitis C in Scotland, exploring the current landscape of hepatitis C infection and examples of assertive outreach models and voices of people with lived experience.
To register for the event visit: https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_XzisY7buSDaqzzh-sx9hNQ
Trish Tougher, Lanarkshire’s blood borne virus (BBV) network manager, said: “A range of organisations across Scotland are using World Hepatitis Day to highlight Scottish Government’s continued commitment to eliminating hepatitis C by December 2024.
“The Lanarkshire’s blood borne virus network continues to lead on the challenge to deliver the Scottish Government’s hepatitis C elimination strategy.
“The key to achieving this target will be the need to think creatively about how to reach the people in Lanarkshire that are in need of treatment, consider how we can work with other partners within health and social care and the third sector to achieve this.
“Increasing awareness of the new treatments for hepatitis C and increasing our testing initiatives across Lanarkshire to find people with hepatitis C will be pivotal”.
Nowadays hepatitis C treatments have over a 90 per cent cure rate, with treatments much shorter at 8 to 12 weeks, no injections and significantly less side effects. The new drugs have transformed treatment and treatment pathways and enabled a different approach to who gets treated and where treatment is provided.
For the latest information on hepatitis C, visit: http://hepctrust.org.uk/about-hepatitis-c-virus
For more information on the work of the Lanarkshire BBV network, contact Trish Tougher, BBV network manager, on 07876 080308 or email trish.tougher@lanarkshire.scot.nhs.uk
