Around 200 000 people are diagnosed with Hepatitis C in Georgia. According to preliminary estimates, 47 000 people require course of treatment but cannot afford it due to high prices. The cost of the therapy is 15000 USD and the majority of the patients are not able to cover it. Many of them have been affected by the disease over 20 years ago and today they are in urgent need of treatment.
In the process of the their support against Hepatitis C, organizations face various challenges: high costs of treatment, lack of state program, uninformed society and lack of preventive mechanisms and so on.
In Georgia this day was marked in different ways: a group of patients actively worked with professional groups and pharmaceutical companies. Some protests against the high costs of medications took place on July 24. Round tables were held with health experts, government representatives and NGOs. Hepatitis C problem was also highlighted by the TV broadcasts.