Médecins Sans Frontières - Report : Hepatitis C, a simplified model of care (EN)

Unique Identifier Code / URN MSF279879

Date taken / Date Recorded 01/07/2019 12:00 AM

Country Cambodia

Commissioning section MSF-FRANCE

Photographer / videographer / producer Panhaly Ouk

Copyright Panhaly Ouk

Usage Rights (MSF) MSF Fundraising, MSF Publications, Social Media

Formal Consent Copy available yes

Editor's rating ★★★ (F)

Video format h264 (Constrained Baseline) (avc1 / 0x31637661)

Duration 2m59s

Maximum Size 1920px × 1080px 289.28 MB

Additional Information / Shotlist An estimated 71 million people are infected with the hepatitis C virus (HCV) globally attributing to almost 400,000 deaths annually.
Hepatitis C is a liver disease caused by the hepatitis C virus (HCV). HCV can cause both acute and chronic hepatitis, typically leading to the development of cirrhosis or liver cancer.
HCV is a blood-borne virus and the most common modes of infection are through exposure to small quantities of blood.

A higher burden of viral hepatitis is found in low-income countries, yet many infected cases remain undiagnosed. It’s important to find and cure these patients before hepatitis breaks out. Simpler ways of diagnosis and treatment, close to the people, are a necessity.

All the simplifications were researched and subsequently implemented on a step-by-step basis since 2016 in Cambodia.
ITW MSF Dr Kim Chamroeun SANN
“When we do the simplification [of the diagnosis], instead of the patient waits for 4 or 5 months to initiate, it’s only 10 days maximum. You can see it’s very quick and the quality of care is the same”.
Simplified and decentralised HCV models of care are crucial in order to screen and treat much larger numbers of people even before they get sick. This is essential in resource-limited contexts like Cambodia. At the same time, the quality of the treatment and patient safety need to remain high.
The simplified model of care offers significant advantages for the patients:
reduction of the number of appointments, decreasing travel expenses and saving time
speed of diagnosis with the reduction of delay between screenings and treatment initiation for new patients
reduction of costs of treatment, which allows screening and treating more people.

Together with the simplification of care, a new drug allows the same effectiveness with less side effects.
Patient 1 Vanna CHOU, man
Interview
I need to spend some money on transport, food, and accommodation for one day and one night to get the treatment

It is not difficult
ITW MSF Dr Kim Chamroeun SANN
The medicine was super expensive, looked like a tablet of gold. Now we provide treatment for free
Until now, we’ve treated more than 10,000 people free of charge.
MSF treats people with hepatitis C in several countries with dedicated hepatitis C projects in Iran, Myanmar, Ukraine, Pakistan, India and Cambodia. In 2018, MSF has provided treatment to around 14,419 people with hepatitis C.