Kempen disokong oleh Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative (DNDi) dan Foundation for Innovative New Diagnostics (FIND), bertujuan untuk mengesan pesakit yang menghidap HCV, iaitu sejenis penyakit yang senyap namun ianya boleh dirawat secara berkesan
‘Foundation for Innovative New Diagnostics’ (FIND) dan ‘Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative’ (DNDi) sedang bekerjasama dengan Kementerian Kesihatan Malaysia (KKM) bagi melancarkan inisiatif terbesar di seluruh negara dalam usaha penyaringan virus hepatitis C (HCV).
Kempen #MYmissingmillions yang telah diumumkan terlebih dahulu sebelum Hari Hepatitis Sedunia 2019 ini, bertujuan untuk meningkatkan kesedaran orang awam terhadap kepentingan diagnosis awal HCV dan bagi memastikan semua rakyat Malaysia berpeluang menjalani ujian saringan serta menerima rawatan berkesan secara percuma. Dianggarkan seramai 400,000 penduduk di Malaysia menghidapi hepatitis C. Lebih daripada 71 juta orang di seluruh dunia dijangkiti virus HCV ini, dan lebih 80% daripada mereka tinggal di negara-negara berpendapatan rendah dan sederhana (LMIC). Penyakit ini merupakan sejenis wabak senyap, kerana majoriti besar pesakit yang dijangkiti tidak menyedari keadaan mereka, serta tidak menunjukkan sebarang simptom atau gejala penyakit. Disebabkan ini, mereka tidak mendapatkan rawatan yang sepatutnya.
Kerjasama ini menawarkan peluang kepada rakyat Malaysia, terutamanya mereka yang dianggap berisiko tinggi, untuk menjalani ujian saringan percuma ini dalam bulan Julai 2019. Ujian saringan ini akan menggunakan sejenis kit diagnostik pantas yang boleh didapati di lebih daripada 100 buah hospital, klinik kesihatan dan tapak kajian FIND di kesemua 14 negeri seluruh negara. Semua pesakit yang disahkan menghidap jangkitan HCV aktif (viremia) akan dirujuk ke fasiliti kesihatan KKM terdekat, yang menawarkan rawatan antiviral, DAA (direct-acting antiviral).
Kempen #MYmissingmillions ini adalah sebahagian daripada usaha KKM untuk memperluaskan dan mempermudahkan proses saringan dan rawatan hepatitis C. Seiring dengan strategi rawatan yang bertujuan untuk menangani kos rawatan HCV dalam negara yang amat tinggi. Program HCV Kebangsaan kini menyediakan rawatan (sofosbuvir/daclatasvir) hepatitis C secara percuma di hospital-hospital kerajaan.
DNDi dan FIND berharap agar sokongan mereka dapat membantu mendorong strategi Kerajaan bagi mengesan pesakit-pesakit #MYmissingmillions ini.
About hepatitis C
HCV is one of the world’s most common infectious diseases, usually contracted through unsafe healthcare and injection drug use. Globally, more than 71 million people are chronically infected, over 80% of whom live in low- and middle-income countries – but only one in five people know they have the disease. Around 400,000 people die every year, and the mortality rate is increasing, making it a global health priority: the World Health Organization (WHO) has set an ambitious target of viral hepatitis elimination by 2030. In Malaysia, HCV disease burden is high and predicted to rise steeply over the coming decades, leading to a projected 63,900 HCV-related deaths by 2039. For further information, please visit www.dndi.org
About FIND
FIND is a global non-profit organization that drives innovation in the development and delivery of diagnostics to combat major diseases affecting the world’s poorest populations. Our work bridges R&D to access, overcoming scientific barriers to technology development; generating evidence for regulators and policy-makers; addressing market failures; and enabling accelerated uptake and access to diagnostics in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Since 2003, we have been instrumental in the delivery of 24 new diagnostic tools. Over 50 million FIND-supported products have been provided to 150 LMICs since the start of 2015. A WHO Collaborating Centre, we work with more than 200 academic, industry, governmental, and civil society partners worldwide, on over 70 active projects that cross six priority disease areas. FIND is committed to a future in which diagnostics underpin treatment decisions and provide the foundation for disease surveillance, control, and prevention. For further information, please visit www.finddx.org
About DNDi
The Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative (DNDi) is a not-for-profit R&D organization working to deliver new treatments for neglected patients, in particular for sleeping sickness, Chagas disease, leishmaniasis, filaria, mycetoma, paediatric HIV/AIDS, and hepatitis C virus (HCV). DNDi’s ambition is to enable access to HCV treatment, through the development and registration of affordable, safe, and efficacious pan-genotypic direct-acting antivirals (DAAs), and by supporting policy change and political will to remove barriers to access to DAAs globally. www.dndi.org
Media contact
DNDi South East Asia: Molly Jagpal
+60 (0)12 546 8362
mjagpal@dndi.org
FIND: Sarah-Jane Loveday, Head of Communications
+41 (0) 22 710 27 88
+41 (0) 79 431 62 44
media@finddx.org
