Union Minister for Health Professor Dr. Thet Khaing Win said that the purchase of hepatitis C treatment drugs worth 348.82 million kyats has been completed in the fiscal year of 2024-2025.
He made this statement at the opening ceremony of the Hepatitis C Prevention and Control Coordination Meeting held at the Ministry of Health on June 4 morning.
Like other World Health Organization member countries, Myanmar has set a goal to eliminate hepatitis B and hepatitis C, which cause chronic hepatitis as a public health problem, by 2030 and has been carrying out prevention and control activities in accordance with the World Health Organization’s treatment guidelines since 2014. Hepatitis C can be completely cured with drugs, and hepatitis B can be prevented with systematic vaccination, the union minister said.
In addition, Myanmar started providing free treatment in designated public hospitals in 2017 as the first country in Southeast Asia to provide hepatitis C treatment, and the necessary equipment for disease testing and medicines were purchased annually with the Ministry of Health’s national funds, he said.
