Profile of patients access to services health specialized in treatment of Hepatitis C in Brazil

• Grant number: 16/18181-0
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: February 01, 2017
• End date: January 31, 2018
• Field of knowledge: Health Sciences - Medicine - Medical Clinics
• Principal Investigator: Maria Lucia Cardoso Gomes Ferraz
• Grantee: Luiz Henrique Corrêa Portari Filho
• Host Institution: Escola Paulista de Medicina (EPM). Universidade Federal de São Paulo (UNIFESP). Campus São Paulo. São Paulo , SP, Brazil

Abstract

The infection caused by hepatitis C virus (HCV) is a major public health problem because it is a major cause of chronic liver disease throughout the world. In Brazil it is estimated that there are 2 million to 3 million people infected with HCV. However, despite the significant number of HIV-infected people in Brazil, few patients have been treated so far, it is estimated that only about 5% of patients, since most infected patients has even been identified. The initial strategies of search possible carriers were based on finding patients belonging to the infection risk groups, according to the Centers for Disease Control guidelines - CDC. However, this strategy proved ineffective in significant number of identification of carriers and about three years in the United States, went to seek patients according to age, improving the identification rates of new patients. In Brazil, many are the difficulties in the search and identification of carriers of the disease. The level of education, economic difficulties, transport and access to the health system make initiatives that target the patient become complex and inefficient. Detailed data identifying how patients came to health care are nonexistent in our midst; knowing this information would be of vital importance to plot strategies of access to diagnosis and treatment of hepatitis C in a country like Brazil, with so many geographic and social differences. Thus, the study aims, through a standardized questionnaire, to know the way that these patients have come, where they were identified and the time elapsed from diagnosis to the possibility of treatment in a health service, as well as information of the infection characteristics and previous treatments performed. (AU)