Aiming towards hepatitis C virus elimination in Greece

George V Papatheodoridis; John Goulis; Vana Sypsa; Christos Lionis; Spilios Manolakopoulos; Ioannis Elefsiniotis; Olga Anagnostou; Christos Tsoulas; Angelos Hatzakis; George N Dalekos

doi:10.20524/aog.2019.0375

Aiming towards hepatitis C virus elimination in Greece

Ann Gastroenterol. 2019 Jul-Aug;32(4):321-329. doi: 10.20524/aog.2019.0375. Epub 2019 Apr 5.

Affiliations

¹ Department of Gastroenterology, Medical School of National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Laiko General Hospital (George V. Papatheodoridis).
² 4 Department of Internal Medicine, Αristotle University of Thessaloniki Medical School (John Goulis).
³ Department of Hygiene, Medical School of National and Kapodistrian, University of Athens, Epidemiology and Medical Statistics, Athens (Vana Sypsa, Angelos Hatzakis).
⁴ Clinic of Social and Family Medicine, School of Medicine, University of Crete, Heraklion-Crete (Christos Lionis).
⁵ 2 Department of Internal Medicine, Medical School of National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Hippokratio General Hospital of Athens (Spilios Manolakopoulos).
⁶ Academic Department of Internal Medicine-Hepatogastroenterology, "Agioi Anargyroi" General and Oncology Hospital, Athens (Ioannis Elefsiniotis).
⁷ Greek Organisation Against Drugs (OKANA), Athens (Olga Anagnostou).
⁸ Medical Department, Gilead Sciences Hellas, Athens (Christos Tsoulas).
⁹ Department of Medicine and Research Laboratory of Internal Medicine, University of Thessaly Medical School, Larissa (George N. Dalekos), Greece.

Abstract

There are estimated to be 74,000-134,000 patients living with chronic hepatitis C in Greece, but only 20-30% of them are aware of their disease status. In July 2017, the Hellenic National Plan for Hepatitis C was announced in alignment with the World Health Organization goals for the eradication of hepatitis C virus (HCV) by the year 2030. This article discusses the epidemiology and current treatment of chronic hepatitis C in Greece. Additionally the authors propose actions on how to bring back to care diagnosed patients lost to follow up, optimize access to care for HCV-infected people who inject drugs, and increase HCV screening in the general population. The medical community in Greece can play a pivotal role in the implementation of the HCV National Plan and in the efforts to reach the goal of HCV elimination.

Keywords: Greece; Hepatitis C; elimination; linkage to care; screening.