Hunan Held A Medical Training Session

Hunan Held A Public Health and Medical Insurance Policy Seminar and Medical Training Session

On June 24, 2018, a public health and medical insurance policy seminar and medical training session jointly organized by China Liver Health and Hunan Preventive Medicine Association was held in Fenglin Hotel, Changsha, Hunan province. This meeting aimed to better implement the "Healthy China 2030" plan and the " Viral Hepatitis Prevention and Control Plan of China (2017-2020)", with a plan to carry out screening, testing and treatment for viral hepatitis among high-risk groups or in high-risk areas in Hunan province. It would promote the fulfillment of the strategic goal of eliminating hepatitis as a major public health threat in Hunan by 2030.

      During the meeting, there were heated discussions and academic reports on the issues related to hepatitis C public health and medical insurance policy as well as the status and challenges of hepatitis prevention and control in China. The meeting was attended by well-known liver disease experts, including Zhuang Hui (an academician of China Engineering Academy), Dr. Chen Zhongdan from WHO Representative Office in China, Li Mingyang (the director of China Liver Health), Pang Lin (a research fellow from Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Professor Rong Yihui from Peking University International Hospital, Professor Li Tong and Professor Liu Xue’en from Peking University Health Science Center, Fan Xuegong (associate dean of Xiangya Hospital of the Central South University), Professor Zuo XiaoCong from the Third Xiangya Hospital of the Central South University, Dr. Dai Lizhong (deputy to the National People's Congress and chairman of Hunan Sansure Biotechnology Co., Ltd.), Professor Chen Jun from the Second Xiangya Hospital of the Central South University, He Lizhi (deputy director of Hunan Center for Clinical Laboratory), Chen Xi (deputy director of Hunan Provincial Center for Disease Control and Prevention), Sun Zhaoquan (deputy director of Hunan Provincial Medical Insurance Bureau), Liu Jingwei (director of Hunan Provincial Medical Insurance Office), Zhu Xiuguang from Qfund, and government leaders and business representatives.

Speech by Academician Zhuang Hui

The number of hepatitis C cases reported in China has increased from 21,000 in 2003 to 230,000 in 2016, showing a continuous increasing trend year by year. According to the prediction model, if hepatitis C patients do not receive appropriate treatment, the number of liver cirrhosis and liver cancer cases caused by hepatitis C in the next 15 years would reach 420,000 and 254,000 respectively. The situation of hepatitis C prevention and treatment is urgent.

The situation of viral hepatitis C and related liver cancer in Hunan province is severe and causes large social burden, which deserves close attention and vigilance. According to the statistics of the incidence and death of Class B infectious diseases in Hunan province from 2015 to the present, the average number of patients with hepatitis C virus has been reported to be about 13,000 per year since 2015. Data released by Hunan Provincial Center for Disease Control and Prevention in 2015 showed that a total of 60,328 cases of hepatitis C were reported in Hunan province during 2010-2015. Data released by Hunan Provincial Cancer Prevention Office in 2016 showed that both the incidence and mortality of liver cancer (30.45/100,000 and 26.33/100,000 respectively) ranked second in malignant tumors in Hunan province, only after lung cancer. Liver cancer is one of the most serious malignant tumors affecting the public health in Hunan province. Viral hepatitis B and C are the major causes of liver cancer.

Prof. Chen Zhongdan       Prof. Pang Lin

Hepatitis C is a kind of "silent" disease, most characterized by the difficulty of detecting. People are often infected unconsciously and acute hepatitis rarely occurs after infection. Thus there are often no obvious symptoms or signs and most don't know that they are infected with hepatitis C.

Prof. Li Tong             Prof. Liu Xue’en             Prof. Rong Yihui

Therefore, to achieve the goal of eliminating hepatitis set by WHO (i.e. 90% reduction in new chronic infections of hepatitis B and hepatitis C, 65% reduction in hepatitis B and hepatitis C mortality, 80% of chronic hepatitis B and hepatitis C patients covered by treatment), the key is to detect people infected with hepatitis C in the population. At present, the detection rate and treatment rate for hepatitis C is only 17.7% and 1.3%. respectively. Therefore, in the prevention and treatment of hepatitis C, screening is particularly important, first using antibody testing and afterwards quantitative testing of hepatitis C virus nucleic acid (HCV RNA). As a means of diagnosis, nucleic acid test deserves utmost attention.

If one is hepatitis C antibody positive, it can only indicate that he/she has ever been infected. As to whether there is still a virus in the body, one needs to be tested by HCV RNA. HCV RNA test can detect the actual presence of hepatitis C virus in the blood.

The meeting was a complete success and reached a series of consensus on issues related to the prevention and control of major diseases including hepatitis C. It is believed that this meeting will help improve the prevention and treatment of viral hepatitis in Hunan province, reduce the infection rate and mortality of patients with viral hepatitis, prevent the development of liver cancer from chronic hepatitis, reduce the medical burden of patients and society so as to benefit patients with viral hepatitis in Hunan.