July 25, 2023

World Hepatitis Day

World Hepatitis Day (WHD) takes place annually on 28 July.

The aim of the day is to raise awareness about viral hepatitis. Hepatitis-C can sometimes cause serious and potentially life-threatening damage to the liver over many years

Every year organisations around the world come together to talk about the impact of hepatitis in our communities. The Hepatitis C Trust, NHS and charities aim to raise awareness about the hurdles people affected by hepatitis face, and overcome, every day.

The theme for this year’s WHD is ‘Don’t miss the target’.

The UK Government has set the ambitious target of eliminating Hep-C as a public health concern in England by 2025. Hundreds of people across the country are working tirelessly to find, test and treat people for hepatitis C in order to reach this goal.

The Hepatitis C Trust have developed a strategy to:

  • Make sure that Hep C is eliminated in England by 2025 and maintain it over the long term
  • Ensure funding for NHS England’s world-leading Hep-C elimination programme continues until this goal has been achieved
  • Tackle the stigma and health inequalities faced by people at risk of Hep C
  • Launch a national campaign to find, test and treat everyone who has Hep C; including people who had blood transfusions before the early 1990s

Over the last year and a half Pivotal has been working closely with the Hepatitis C Trust. This led to discussions around the antibody test and delivery of tests and Pivotal have now devised a programme so our support colleagues in Dorset can now test customers.

Through our joint work with the Hepatitis C Trust we have helped many of our customers to eliminate the virus.

Natasha Topham, Wessex Peer Programme Manager at the Hep C Trust, said “The Joint work between the Hep C Trust and Pivotal staff has been amazing, with some remarkable outcomes. By having a continued channel of communication between the two services, it has helped identify patients who would have been otherwise “lost to follow up”. Having the staff on board in supporting people on treatment, has definitiley improved the outcomes of people completing treatment successfully. By having the staff able to provide antibody testing it has quickly identified cases that need further testing, and we’ve been able to do this quickly and effectively. This is a great piece of work that contributes towards the elimination of Hep C. Thank you to the dedicated Pivotal staff for all your help”.

Find out more about Hep C by visiting the Hepatitis C Trust and read more on social #WorldHepatitusDay #WHD #NotWaiting and #HepCantWait