This new call aims to continue promoting the realization of diagnostic projects and linking to the SNS of patients with delta hepatitis and microelimination of hepatitis C, which will be beneficial for patients, for our society and, ultimately, for the scientific community, through the granting of monetary contributions destined to its execution.
In the words of Marisa ÁlvarezExc. Director, Medical Affairs of Gilead in Spain and Portugal, «The eighth edition of the scholarships Our Gilead-AEEH for diagnostic projects and linking to the SNS of patients with hepatitis D and microelimination in hepatitis C is a clear sample of commitment as a company with patients suffering from liver diseases. «The more than 70 scholarship projects to date, the multidisciplinary major Delta hepatitis, the most serious and aggressive viral hepatitis of allin order to improve the approach of patients affected by said virus, ”he said.
The deadline for the presentation of proposals will open on May 12 and will run until June 21 of this year, and, again, the AEEH will be responsible for evaluating and selecting the projects, which must be presented at www.gilead.com/purpose/giving/funding-requests/apply-europe.
“The scholars program has allowed progress in the hepatitis elimination strategy, according to WHO programs, and has allowed to maintain a constant research activity in this field generating patient care strategies, in some models Rafael Bañarespresident of the AEEH.
They may benefit from the aid of non -profit and beneficiary entities of patronage such as foundations, declared associations of public utility, public universities, public research organizations dependent on the general State Administration, Health Research Institutes and public consortiums of research assigned to public research organizations in the field of health sciences that have not been awarded in the previous call. A maximum of two projects may be presented by health center. It will be understood as a health care center that is assigned by the main investigator of the project. Each principal researcher may only submit a research project proposal. The execution period should not exceed 24 months.
The scholarships granted during the previous seven editions (2018-2024) have promoted and endowed with resources to 55 VHC and 21 of VHD projectsof which 28 have been aimed at the general population and primary care, 10 to the psychiatric population, 9 to vulnerable/homeless population, 8 to immigrant population, 8 to drug users, 6 to the population treated in emergency services, 2 at the service of surgery, two to the population of prison centers, and one to the populations of men who practice sex with other men and post-covid patients.
-In addition, all these scholarships are widely distributed by different regions and hospitals or health institutions. Catalonia has been the community in which more projects have been developed within the framework of this program (20 in total), closely followed by Andalusia and Madrid (16 and 14, respectively). In the Valencian Community, six projects have been developed, four in Castilla y León, Galicia and Canary Islands, respectively; two in the Balearic Islands, Aragon and Cantabria, and one in Navarra and La Rioja.
Strategy against viral hepatitis
Hepatitis C is an important public health problem due to its incidence, morbidity and mortality and health costs. There is no vaccine against hepatitis C, but there are antiviral treatments of direct action that cure the disease in more than 95% of cases. The world strategy against viral hepatitis, defined in May 2016 by the World Health Organization (WHO) with the ultimate goal of eliminating viral hepatitis, demonstrated as world goals by 2030 the reduction of new infections by hepatitis virus in 90% and mortality from diseases that cause in 65%.
Both in compliance with these objectives established by WHO and in the development of the recommended strategies to achieve them, Spain could be one of the first countries to achieve the elimination of hepatitis C in the world, more than 172,312 patients treated, which has made Spain one of the first candidate countries to eliminate this disease. These figures make the objective of elimination much closer and can be a reality in our country before 2030, although there is still work to be done.
In this sense, it is estimated that about 54,500 people suffer active infection of the C virus in our country (prevalence rate of 0.14%), of which it is estimated that 29% is not yet diagnosed (approximately 13,000 people). Therefore, it is necessary to identify, diagnose and link the attention to people who have hepatitis C and also do so in the initial stages to prevent the disease from evolving and its approach to be more complicated; In addition to avoiding transmission and new infections. Given that many of these people belong to specific population groups and in risk situations, and sometimes to vulnerable groups with difficulties of access to the national health system, microelimination programs for which these scholarships are granted are fundamental to advance in the objective of ending this public health problem, among others, simplifying the assistance circuits and bringing them closer to the place where the patients are found.
Viral hepatitis share infection routes and common risk factors. However, the integral diagnosis of cases for VHD in hepatitis B patients (HBV) is performed in less than 50%. For this reason, experts agree that the search and early diagnosis of these patients is important. Chronic delta hepatitis, a mortal infectious disease that only affects people with hepatitis B (HBV) virus. VHD infection leads to a more serious liver disease than HBV alone and is associated with faster progression to liver fibrosis and cirrhosis and a greater risk of liver cancer, liver transplantation and death. It is believed that at least 12 million patients worldwide are co -infected with VHD and many are not diagnosed.
In Spain, according to the latest Seroprevalence survey of the Ministry of Health, 0.22% of the population has active hepatitis B infection (about 90,000 people). Of these, it is estimated that 5% is co -infected by hepatitis D, so in Spain there would be between 5,000 and 7,000 people with chronic hepatitis by the Delta virus. Until recently, Delta hepatitis was considered an ‘orphan’ disease, which favored its infraiagnosis. Therefore, recent European guides recommend the reflection diagnosis of delta hepatitis in every patient with hepatitis B that expresses the HBSAG surface antigen. Thanks to programs for the implementation of this reflex diagnosis, which has proven to be cost-effective, the number of people diagnosed with HCV has been increased and the time between diagnosis and treatment can be shortened. Through these scholarships, Gilead and AEEH intend to continue supporting projects that improve and expedite the reflection diagnosis of delta hepatitis and optimize the care chain of people at risk of viral hepatitis.
