President of Croatian Republic, Ivo Josipović, receives ELPA President on World Hepatitis Day 2014

On occassion of World Hepatitis Day 2014, President of the Republic of Croatia received ELPA president, mr.sc.Tatjana Reić, representatives from CATIH HEPATOS – Croatian Assocciation of Treated and Ill from Hepatitis and Croatian Alliance of Hepatitis Patient Associations who gave the President insight into Croatian situation regarding viral hepatitis. This includes absence of a national strategy, insufficient funding for treatment as well as inadequate scope of prevention activities.

The president of ELPA, mr.sc. Tatjana Reić, who is also the president of Hepatos , introduced dr.Josipović to the consequences of new therapy protocols installed by the Croatian Health Insurance Fond, by which the access to treatment for chronic hepatitis C patients in most need is significantly reduced.

As in the previous years, CATIH Hepatos and Croatian Alliance of Hepatitis Patient Associations will organize testing for viral hepatitis around Croatia with the goal of detecting illness as early as possible and treating it before it progresses to cyrossis and liver cancer.

President Josipović was also presented with the independently made Public Policy Analysis in the domain of viral hepatitis.This is an unique document in Croatia, expected to greatly benefit future advocacy, and whose biggest agenda is creating a more coordinated policy on viral hepatitis prevention in the form of national strategy or multiannual action plan that will define organizational and financial obligations for institutions on all levels of government, including partnerships with organizations of the civil society.