44 AUGUST 2019 | HEALTHCARE RADIUS
EVENT
T
he Foundation for Innovative
New Diagnostics (FIND) and the
Institute for Liver and Biliary Sci-
ences (ILBS) organised a day-long
conference “Marching together to achieve
Hepatitis C elimination – targets and action”
as a run-up to World Hepatitis Day 2019.
With over 70 million people infected
globally, HCV is one of the world’s most
common infectious diseases. It is estimated
that four out of five people infected with
HCV don’t know it. In order to address
this significant disease burden, diagnosis
of HCV followed by treatment with direct
acting antivirals (DAA) is critical. Through
the HEAD-Start project funded by Unitaid,
FIND is focusing on enhancing the avail-
ability and accessibility of HCV testing and
this is being executed in a phased man-
ner across five hospitals identified by the
DGHS: Pt Madan Mohan Malviya Hospital,
Maharshi Valmiki Hospital, Sanjay GandhiMemorial Hospital, Deen Dayal Upadhyay
Hospital, and Guru Teg Bahadur Hospital. In
New Delhi, the HEAD-Start project is imple-
mented by FIND in close collaboration
with ILBS. The project contributes to the
development of a well-functioning network
providing decentralised diagnosis for HCV,
with effective linkage to treatment centres
in Delhi.
The conference saw the launch of the
'Delhi Model' – a result of the HEAD-Start
project, which highlights that decentralised
screening and treatment management at
the primary healthcare level is the way for-
ward for tackling HCV in New Delhi.
The 'Delhi Model' underpins the work un-
dertaken by FIND and ILBS under the guid-
ance of the Directorate of Health Services
(DHS), Department of Health and Family
Welfare, Government of NCT of Delhi. The
booklet and a poster on HCV awareness was
released by Dr Vikas Sheel, Joint Secretary,The 'Delhi Model' is a comprehensive guide highlighting the best practices
adopted to address Hepatitis C elimination via the Hepatitis C elimination
BY TEAM HR
The launch of 'Delhi Model'