MINSK, 29 January (BelTA) – Belarus plans to eliminate Hepatitis C transmission in the next two to three years, Yelena Bogdan, the head of the main department of healthcare provision, examination, complaints and appeals at the Healthcare Ministry, said as she met with an Armenian delegation led by Healthcare Minister Arsen Torosyan in Minsk on 28 January, BelTA has learned.
“As the domestic pharmaceutical industry has ramped up production, the prices [for Hepatitis C drugs] have reduced ten times in comparison with those price plans offered by foreign suppliers. This year we have almost doubled the recruitment of patients for treatment. In the next two to three years, we plan to eliminate Hepatitis C completely in the country,” Yelena Bogdan said.
In 2016 Belarus received an official validation from the World Health Organization (WHO) for the elimination of mother-to-child transmission of HIV and syphilis. The certificate was confirmed in 2017 and in 2018.
This year the number of HIV-infected patients recruited for treatment has been doubled. Essential drugs are produced domestically. The grant of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria covers only those drugs that are not produced in the country.
Belarus took on the obligations to implement the UNAIDS 90-90-90 strategy by 2020 where the first digit means that 90% of people living with HIV should be diagnosed and know their HIV status. At the moment this figure is 74.5%.
