Hi Hazel,
Thank you for the article.
I noticed a trend lately, for people who represent the HCV patients or are working in such environments, to express "their worries" because people buy HCV drugs from the internet.
To me this simply means politics and empty words, as it creates a weak pressure to change in good the current status quo of treatment options for the HCV patients.
I believe that "action" is the key element. "Being worried" means to stay passive and hope that somebody else will "do" something. I am wondering why none of such people is taking the initiative to actually propose a change, like compulsory licensing, information campagne of the vital news that HCV generic medication is effective or any other idea that will lead to an action in the real benefit of HCV patients.
Now I go a little bit to what I observed in Romania (but perhaps it applies in other countries as well): there is too much focus in the medical world and various patients associations on the screening and diagnosis of HCV patients and this "focus" is presented as the key for eradicating HCV. That's unfortunately only a part of the problem. The unsolved part of the problem is "how the patients will be treated?". Waiting for a treatment is no solution, treating less people than the number of those who get infected is inefficient.
Erradicating HCV is like a chain of operations where its strength is given by the weakest ring:
- prevention
- diagnosis
- treatment
The bottle neck effect happens on the last ring "treatment" and the erradication of HCV may happen only through mass treatment of people. Erradicating HCV should imply no step by step approach, rather acting simultaneously on all 3 stages from above.
Perhaps I missed some details, but in simple terms, this is what I think it should happen for a world free of HCV.
Every person knowing about the efficiency of HCV generic medication and every person being cured by it has the power to act. The simple information/knowledge sharing is a real force that may change things in better. Let's not forget about this force and use it.
Regards,
RHF
