Xinhua News Agency, Beijing, July 28 (Reporter Xia Ke) July 28 is the 11th World Hepatitis Day.
In recent years, China has made world-renowned achievements in the prevention and control of viral hepatitis.
With the mass production of hepatitis B vaccine in the 1990s, through mass immunization and re-vaccination, especially the inclusion of hepatitis B vaccine in the neonatal planned immunization and the development of mother-to-child blocking technology, the barrier of prevention has been moved forward from the source. To curb virus infection.
According to Yang Xizhong, executive vice chairman of the China Hepatitis Prevention Foundation, the current key difficulty in the field of viral hepatitis prevention and treatment in China lies in the large stock of hepatitis B patients, the low diagnosis and treatment rate, and the heavy burden of liver cirrhosis and liver cancer caused by hepatitis B infection.
It is estimated that there are currently about 86 million hepatitis B virus carriers in China, of which about 28 million are chronic hepatitis B patients requiring treatment; about 4.5 million hepatitis C patients.
In the treatment of hepatitis B, entecavir, tenofovir dipivoxil, propofol tenofovir and pegylated interferon are first-line drugs recommended by international and domestic guidelines, which can effectively inhibit virus replication and greatly slow down the process of liver disease.
The reporter learned that while continuing to expand the coverage of medical insurance, the Chinese government has reduced drug prices and the burden of drug costs for insured patients through centralized procurement, greatly improving the availability of hepatitis medications.
The reporter recently interviewed at the Liver Disease Clinic of Beijing You'an Hospital affiliated to Capital Medical University and learned that the current first-line nucleoside anti-hepatitis B virus drugs for hepatitis B patients, after the medical insurance reimbursement, the individual will pay 0.5 yuan to 80 yuan per month. Most patients Indicates that the price is acceptable.
According to Hao Chunpeng, deputy secretary general of the China Medical Insurance Research Association, 66.59% of the medical insurance coordinating areas across the country include the diagnosis and treatment of viral hepatitis in the coverage of the employee medical insurance outpatient clinic, and the actual reimbursement rate reaches 60.68%; the reimbursement rate for the hospitalization is close to 80%.
6.05% of the medical insurance coordinating areas included the diagnosis and treatment of viral hepatitis in the coverage of the residents' medical insurance outpatient clinics, and the actual reimbursement ratio was 52.38%; the actual reimbursement ratio for the inpatient part was 60%.
Through years of hard work, in 2014, the positive rate of hepatitis B virus surface antigen in people under 5 years of age in China has dropped to 0.32%, achieving the WHO hepatitis B control target in the Western Pacific region ahead of schedule.
In this regard, the WHO Western Pacific Region spoke highly of it, believing that the prevention and treatment of hepatitis B in China is a great achievement in the field of public health and has set a model for other developing countries.
The reporter learned that since 2017, China has already approved a number of direct antiviral drugs for hepatitis C, four of which have been included in the medical insurance list, including three imported drugs and one domestic drug. Industry insiders believe that as direct antiviral drugs for hepatitis C are successively approved for marketing and included in the medical insurance list, the conditions for eliminating hepatitis C public health hazards nationwide are ripe.