40% of Hep-C sufferers with an opioid addiction in St. Gallen not diagnosed

This is alarming: more than 40% of hepatitis C sufferers with an opioid addiction in the canton of St. Gallen have not been diagnosed and more than 50% have not been treated.
This is despite the fact that the FOPH has had hepatitis C guidelines in place for years, which stipulate annual testing and treatment of all those affected in this population.
The study recently published in Swiss Medical Weekly by Kerstin Wissel and Andrea Bregenzer paints a frightening picture of hepatitis care in the decentralised addiction sector.

https://smw.ch/index.php/smw/article/view/3352

Swiss Hepatitis Symposium 2022

Viral Hepatitis and Migration

The health of migrants is an important topic – not only in times of war in Europe. Even if chronic infectious diseases may not be the primary concern of migrants who have had to flee from violence, unrest or precarious living conditions to Switzerland, access to care must be ensured.

Monday 28. November 2022 1pm to 5pm
Welle7, Schanzenstrasse 5, 3008 Bern, with Livestream

Registration Swiss Hepatitis Symposium 2022

28 July World Hepatitis Day

Thursday 28 July is World Hepatitis Day.
To this occasion, the SHCV, together with Hepatitis Switzerland, Hepfree.ch and the Arud Centre for Addiction Medicine, is organising anonymous free tests for Hepatitis-C.

Come to the Arud Centre at Schützengasse 31 near the HB, 8001 Zurich
on Thursday 28th July from 17 to 19 o’clock
and get tested with an Ora-Quick quick test without blood. The result will be known within 15 minutes. Please do not eat or drink anything for 30 minutes before the test and do not use any dental care or related products.

If you already know that you have or have had hepatitis C, then this antibody test makes no sense. The corresponding antibodies remain for life and are detectable by this test.

If you have chronic hepatitis, you should seek treatment. We will be happy to help you find appropriate support info@hepc.ch
Tel. 077 467 35 71

Help for refugees from Ukraine with HIV or Hepatitis

Where do refugees from Ukraine living with HIV and/or Hepatitis get information and supplies?
Where can people turn for Opioid Substitution Therapy (OST)?

Де біженці з України, які мають ВІЛ та/або гепатит, можуть отримати інформацію та допомогу? Куди звертатися людям, які отримують опіоїдну замісну терапію (ОЗТ)?
Где могут получить необходимую информацию и помощь беженцы из Украины, живущие с ВИЧ и/или гепатитом? Куда могут обратиться за помощью те, кто проходит опиоидную заместительную терапию (ОЗТ)?

Swiss AIDS Federation – Information Ukraine

Swiss Hepatitis – Information Ukraine

Nobel Prize for the discovery of the hepatitis C virus

Press release Public Health Switzerland and Hepatitis Switzerland

Scientists Harvey J. Alter, Charles M. Rice and Michael Houghton were today awarded the Nobel Prize for the discovery of the hepatitis C virus. Thanks to their work, the disease is curable today, some 40 years later. Switzerland aims to eliminate the viral disease. Until then, there are still some hurdles to overcome.

Hepatitis B and C cause a high burden of disease. In Switzerland, too, more than 200 people die of viral hepatitis every year. This corresponds to the number of annual road deaths. Hepatitis B and C are the main cause of liver cancer and liver transplants in Switzerland.

Elimination possible
Hepatitis C is curable today: the latest therapies achieve cure in over 98 percent of cases in just eight to twelve weeks. The World Health Organization (WHO) aims to eliminate viral hepatitis on a global scale by 2030. The Swiss hepatitis strategy pursues the same goal for Switzerland and has worked with experts to develop corresponding elimination targets.

To achieve these goals, gaps in testing, vaccination and treatment would have to be closed. “There is a particular need for action in education, even in the healthcare system,” says Philip Bruggmann, President of Hepatitis Switzerland. This requires coordinated activities by all players.

Integration into the National HIV Program
The main transmission routes and risk groups for hepatitis are very similar to those for HIV. For this reason, the professional associations Hepatitis Switzerland and Public Health Switzerland are calling for viral hepatitis to be integrated into the successor program to the National Program HIV and Other Sexually Transmitted Diseases (NPHS), which expires in 2021. A National Program on Sexually and Blood-borne Diseases could achieve the elimination of these two dangerous infectious diseases in a resource-saving manner by 2030. The demand has been taken up by politicians: A motion to this effect by Damian Müller, member of the Council of States, was accepted by parliament.

Public Health Switzerland is the independent, national organization representing public health concerns. The association is committed to creating optimal conditions for the health of the population in Switzerland and provides professional support to decision-makers.

Hepatitis Switzerland maintains a competence network on viral hepatitis in Switzerland with a focus on public health. The non-profit association comments on questions in the field of viral hepatitis and carries out its own projects.

Public symposium
Swiss Hepatitis Symposium 2020
Elimination 2030 – 10 years to go. The importance of data and politics
30 November 2020, 13.30 – 18 h, University of Zurich

COVID-19 and liver patients

Dear readers,
While the first clinical studies and clinical outcomes are coming to light in this new disease COVID-19 and still much is unknown about the SARS-Cov-2 virus, we can give you some information and recommendations for patients with chronic liver disease or liver transplanted persons during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic.
The recommendations are given to us from our partners Swiss Hepatitis and the Swiss Association for the Study of the Liver (SASL) please find it here :
Recommendations from SASL / Hepatitis Switzerland on COVID-19

SHCA Swiss Hepatitis C Association and 11 other patients organizations leave the European umbrella association ELPA

New foundation of an international umbrella association under study

Following an extraordinary members meeting in Ljubljana/Slovenia on 25th November, the Swiss Hepatitis C Association and 11 other national organizations, declared that they will be leaving the European umbrella association ELPA, effective from 31st December 2018. Continue reading “SHCA Swiss Hepatitis C Association and 11 other patients organizations leave the European umbrella association ELPA”