Image of the Week: Gamification Approach Educates Delegates at World Hepatitis Summit

Earlier this month, MCI worked with the World Health Organization (WHO), the Scottish Government and the World Hepatitis Alliance to deliver the first ever World Hepatitis Summit in Glasgow, Scotland.

A key objective for the three-day programme was to help attendees – a mix of government officials, healthcare professionals and patient representatives – realise how to form a national plan should an outbreak of hepatitis happen.

MCI’s creative team knew that engaging the audience through an immersive experience would be more effective than simply presenting facts and figures, so created an experiential session that inspired attendees to think on their feet and gain practical skills in terms of assessing the level of threat to their countries and preparing a National Plan for Hepatitis.

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First-ever World Hepatitis Summit calls for national programmes-- Follows rise in hepatitis deaths for fifth consecutive year

The first World Hepatitis Summit is being held this week in Glasgow to urge countries to develop national programmes to help eliminate viral hepatitis.

Deaths from the disease have increased for a fifth year running and there are currently 400 million people living with the condition as it now claims an estimated 1.45 million lives each year, making it one of the world's leading causes of death.

Policymakers and stakeholders at the three-day meeting will discuss the World Health Organization's (WHO) Global Health Sector Strategy on Viral Hepatitis, which sets targets for 2030.

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World Hepatitis Summit harnesses global momentum to eliminate viral hepatitis

2 SEPTEMBER 2015 ¦ GLASGOW - Participants at the first-ever World Hepatitis Summit will urge countries to develop national programmes that can ultimately eliminate viral hepatitis as a problem of public health concern.

“We know how to prevent viral hepatitis, we have a safe and effective vaccine for hepatitis B, and we now have medicines that can cure people with hepatitis C and control hepatitis B infection,” said Dr Gottfried Hirnschall, Director of the WHO’s Global Hepatitis Programme. “Yet access to diagnosis and treatment is still lacking or inaccessible in many parts of the world. This summit is a wake-up call to build momentum to prevent, diagnose, treat - and eventually eliminate viral hepatitis as a public health problem.”

Around 400 million people are currently living with viral hepatitis, and the disease claims an estimated 1.45 million lives each year, making it one of the world’s leading causes of death. Hepatitis B and C together cause approximately 80% of all liver cancer deaths, yet most people living with chronic viral hepatitis are unaware of their infection.

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The end of hepatitis C?

2014 will do down as a pivotal year in the fight against hepatitis C virus (HCV), a blood-borne infection that is thought to infect around 2.5% of the world's population - some 170 million people.

The availability of new, more effective therapies for hepatitis C virus have raised the tantalising prospect of being able to eliminate the infection on a global basis,  although there are still significant obstacles to overcome.

Viral hepatitis - which generally means hepatitis B and C - “kills more people every year than HIV, malaria and tuberculosis combined, but has not had the same level of resources committed to it,” according to Charles Gore, who is chief executive of the Hepatitis C Trust in the UK and president of the World Hepatitis Alliance (WHA).

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