General practitioners and pharmacists are participating in the free screening campaign against hepatitis C promoted by the Tuscany Region and, starting this week, they will begin to offer the rapid test in clinics and pharmacies. A novelty announced with the opening of the second phase of the screening campaign which involves people between 35 and 55 years old, the age group identified by the Ministry of Health, and who from now on will also be able to contact their doctor and their trusted pharmacist to receive information and carry out the rapid test.
To date, over 300 general practitioners and 145 pharmacies have registered to offer the finger prick test for hepatitis C in Tuscany. These numbers are in addition to the offices of voluntary associations that in 2023 alone have carried out 41,000 tests, covering a significant percentage of the population in just a few months, and have organized the large open day in May that received significant participation, reaching a thousand tests in one day.
“We are satisfied that general medicine and pharmacies share this important prevention objective with us and for this I want to thank them – comments the regional councilor for the Right to Health Simone Bezzini – their contribution will be fundamental to reach the greatest number of people and inform the population on the importance of adhering to screening against Hepatitis C. The data from this first month are encouraging and tell us that people are responding well, demonstrating a widespread culture of self-care and collective well-being, fundamental for protection of everyone’s health.”
To increase membership and awareness of the value of prevention, the Region has also launched a communication campaign. The “TestiamoCi” radio spot is on air these days, while the campaign video will be broadcast on the screens of the main summer arenas in Tuscany. Posters, brochures and information material are being distributed to general practitioners and pharmacies to promote the initiative.
Also for 2024, the population invited to undergo the test will be those born between 1969 and 1989, the age group identified by the ministry. To these must be added the prison population and the users of the Serd, the addiction service, where the campaign has already resumed. The screening will always consist of a rapid, fingerstick test on capillary blood to search for anti-HCV antibodies and the result will be available in a few minutes. It will be possible to carry out the test until 31 December 2024.
All the information for the Hepatitis C test is available on the Tuscany Region website:gione.toscana.it/testiamoci.
