National Hepatitis Day
The national hepatitis plan
The national hepatitis plan was drafted, in part, to tackle the current, fragmented approach to hepatitis care in the Netherlands. Based on input from various parties involved in hepatitis care, including specialists, GPs and public health experts, the national hepatitis plan pinpoints the sticking points and possible areas for improvement in hepatitis prevention and care in the Netherlands. At the conference, the plan was presented as a “strategy for action”, covering issues such as increased awareness, vaccination, identification, diagnostics, treatment, organisation of care, monitoring and the research agenda.
During the conference, several sessions discussed various aspects of the national hepatitis plan, including the clinical side, screening and prevention, as well as organizational aspects.
The national hepatitis plan is described in more detail here.
Amsterdam hepatitis B and C action plan
In 2016, the GGD Amsterdam launched an action plan for hepatitis B and C prevention and care in Amsterdam. This plan was developed in collaboration with all the organisations involved in hepatitis B and C prevention and care in the city. The overall goal of the plan is to reduce the number of new hepatitis B and C infections in Amsterdam, make people more aware of their infection and promote optimal care, treatment and quality of life for people with a hepatitis B or C infection. While this action plan was drawn up in line with the national hepatitis plan, it is more action-focussed and designed to be implemented locally.
For more information (in Dutch) on the Amsterdam action plan, follow this link.
Health Council advice: multi-track policy for screening at-risk groups
During the conference on 1 November, the Health Council of the Netherlands also published its advice to the Minister of Health, Welfare and Sport regarding the need and possibilities for early detection of hepatitis B and C in at-risk groups. In its advisory report, the committee notes that the incidence of chronic hepatitis B and C is too low for a national screening programme to provide any health benefit. The advice is therefore to limit hepatitis B and C screening to five at-risk groups, namely: first-generation migrants and refugees from countries where the viruses are very common, people who regularly use, or have ever regularly used, injection drugs, men who have sex with men and certain groups of healthcare workers. The committee also recommends employing a multi-track approach.
The Health Council committee was also of the opinion that the improved treatment options for chronic hepatitis B and, in particular, chronic hepatitis C infection could justify retracing people who had previously been diagnosed with an infection but who are no longer in care, so as to offer these people the new, more effective, treatment modalities.
Overall, it was a constructive, interactive and informative day, with the overriding message that timely detection and treatment can prevent a great deal of illness caused by these viral infections.