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US-based Gilead Sciences, Inc. has announced a new public-private initiative with the Partnership for Health Advancement in Vietnam (HAIVN), a collaboration between Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center.
This multi-year initiative will have a phased approach to help address barriers that limit viral hepatitis diagnosis and care at primary healthcare facilities in Vietnam and the Philippines, two countries with high burdens of hepatitis B and C.
Gilead and HAIVN will work together with a multi-stakeholder coalition, involving national ministries of health, academic stakeholders including the University of Philippines-Manila (UP Manila), provincial hospitals and primary healthcare centres to support this pilot programme.
The focus of the programme will be on person-centered approaches in training non-specialist community-based healthcare providers in prevention and management of viral hepatitis, incorporating education, screening, diagnosis and linkage to care for hepatitis B and C into routine patient visits for at-risk populations.
In Vietnam, out of a population of 97 million, nearly 7.8 million people have hepatitis B and over 900,000 have hepatitis C. While in the Philippines, over 10 million people are infected with hepatitis B and nearly 450,000 with hepatitis C.
