World Hepatitis Day: Georgia offers free Hepatitis C test in regions

Georgia is joining World Hepatitis Day by encouraging its citizens to immediately get tested for Hepatitis C.

Each year on July 28 countries around the world mark World Hepatitis Day to raise awareness about the disease; hepatitis causes inflammation of the liver and can affect any individual regardless of age, including children.

The theme of this year’s World Hepatitis Day is "Prevent Hepatitis. Act now”.

To support this, Georgia’s Health Ministry is encouraging people all over the country - excluding Tbilisi and the occupied regions Tskhinvali (South Ossetia) and Abkhazia - to visit a medical centre and get tested for Hepatitis C for free. The offer is open for the next two weeks.

Nearly 400 million people worldwide live with viral hepatitis and more than one million people die each year from the disease.

Yet because hepatitis often persists silently for years before revealing any symptoms, many are unaware they are infected with the disease, which often leads to long-term liver damage and death.

To prevent this, free Hepatitis C tests are available to anyone in Georgia’s regions from July 27 until August 10.

This initiative was part of Georgia’s unique Hepatitis C treatment program, which is free for all Georgians. The program aimed to fully eliminate Hepatitis C in the country over a five-year period. If successful, Georgia will become the first country to eliminate the virus.

The first evaluation of the program earlier this month saw most of the people involved in the treatment program be cured of the life-threatening virus after one month of treatment.