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Facts to Support Funding for Hepatitis C Programs

Hepatitis C programs help communities treat and contain the dangerous virus. Programs can be run by local clinics or on the state and federal level. In order to garner funding, start-up programs need to know important facts about the disease.

  1. Hepatitis C Statistics

    • According to the World Health Organization (WHO), in 2003, 3 percent of the world's population was infected with hepatitis C. That number is likely to have increased. Another number that has likely increased in the cost of hepatitis C treatment for all of those infected. WHO reports that in 1998, hepatitis C cost $1 billion in the United States alone.

    The Importance of Treatment

    • Though 40 percent of those infected may fully recover, without treatment the disease can be fatal. For programs, perhaps the most important fact about hepatitis C is that most who are infected do not realize they have the disease for some time, meaning they may infect other people without being aware. Containing that spread is important not only to save lives, but also to help relieve the financial stress such a disease has on a community.

    Hepatitis Programs

    • Hepatitis programs have the ability implement all of the WHO's guidelines for preventing the continued growth of hepatitis C. The guidelines include blood screening for the disease, offering needle exchanges to prevent the virus from spreading by drug use, and risk counseling to help inform at-risk portions of communities. Education is key to stopping the disease's spread.

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