People living with HIV\u00a0\/ AIDS, tuberculosis and hepatitis for a\u00a0long time fought for their right to\u00a0be\u00a0treated at\u00a0public expense. However, the government had ignored the problem of\u00a0these three epidemics for many years.\n<\/p>\n
The situation of\u00a0Ukrainians who were living with hepatitis\u00a0C was especially difficult. Not a\u00a0single penny had been allocated fron the state budget for the treatment of\u00a0patients living with hepatitis C.\u00a0Annual treatment with pegylated interferons costed about UAH 100\u00a0000. Of\u00a0course, this money is\u00a0unaffordable for the majority of\u00a0our fellow citizens\u00a0\u2014 consequently, the epidemic of\u00a0hepatitis was becoming more and more rampant. Due to\u00a0the numerous protests of\u00a0patients, organized by\u00a0UCAB, at\u00a0the end of\u00a02012 the President of\u00a0Ukraine issued an\u00a0Order of\u00a0the Prime Minister Azarov to\u00a0finance the fight against the three epidemics. However, officials have ignored the Order.<\/p>\n
In\u00a0April 2013\u00a0UCAB, together with partners (Ukrainian and international public and patient organizations) conducted a\u00a0large-scale action \u2018The Condemned\u2019. Around 100 patients with cotton sacks on\u00a0their heads and loops around their necks lined up\u00a0in\u00a0front of\u00a0the Cabinet building , as\u00a0if\u00a0awaiting for the death penalty. Thus, officials could see to\u00a0what they condemn patients that needed treatment. During the action the authorities came to\u00a0patients and assured that in\u00a0the nearest future the State program to\u00a0combat viral hepatitis will be\u00a0adopted and funded. Also under pressure from patients, officials promised that this year the funding to\u00a0fight the epidemics of\u00a0HIV\u00a0\/ AIDS and tuberculosis will be\u00a0increased fiscal spending\u00a0to.<\/p>\n
\u2018We are really shocked by\u00a0such a\u00a0quick response of\u00a0the authorities to\u00a0the patients\u2019 action, and are ready to\u00a0continue the dialogue\u00a0\u2014 said Dmitry Sherembey, the Head of\u00a0UCAB, after the action,\u00a0\u2014 We\u00a0will monitor all steps taken by\u00a0officials according to\u00a0the Order. Also we\u00a0will do\u00a0everything to\u00a0reduce drug prices, especially for hepatitis. Our preliminary negotiations with pharmaceutical companies have proven that this is\u00a0possible. But this requires the procurements of\u00a0drugs by\u00a0the state\u2019.<\/p>\n
On\u00a0April\u00a029, 2013 the Cabinet of\u00a0Ministers of\u00a0Ukraine approved the State targeted social program for the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of\u00a0viral hepatitis in\u00a0the period up\u00a0to\u00a02016. This was the first major victory for patients and the basis for the struggle for the release of\u00a0funds.<\/p>\n
During a\u00a0few months UCAB reminded the officials about the need to\u00a0allocate funds for the procurements of\u00a0drugs for hepatitis. We\u00a0sent numerous letters to\u00a0representatives of\u00a0the Cabinet of\u00a0Ministers with a\u00a0request to\u00a0take personal control of\u00a0the financing of\u00a0the first in\u00a0the history of\u00a0Ukraine procurement of\u00a0drugs for hepatitis. In\u00a0addition, UCAB held negotiations with producers of\u00a0peginterferons to\u00a0provide lower prices for government procurements.<\/p>\n
In\u00a0September 2013, the Cabinet allocated UAH 33,2 million for the procurement of\u00a0drugs for hepatitis. Vice Prime Minister of\u00a0Ukraine Konstantin Grishchenko noted on\u00a0his Twitter: \u2018For the first time funds for these activities will be\u00a0allocated. I\u00a0am glad that the document on\u00a0which we\u00a0have worked so\u00a0much and which we\u00a0promoted for is\u00a0now signed. Special thanks to\u00a0NGOs for their support of\u00a0our efforts and perseverance,\u00a0\u2014 said Mr. Grishchenko,\u00a0\u2014 This is\u00a0a\u00a0good result and experience of\u00a0cooperation of\u00a0community and state authorities.\u2019<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
People living with HIV\u00a0\/ AIDS, tuberculosis and hepatitis for a\u00a0long time fought for their right to\u00a0be\u00a0treated at\u00a0public expense. However, the government had ignored the problem of\u00a0these three epidemics for many years. The situation of\u00a0Ukrainians who were living with hepatitis\u00a0C was especially difficult. Not a\u00a0single penny had been allocated fron the state budget for the treatment […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3254,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[170],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11031","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-achievements"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/patients.org.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11031","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/patients.org.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/patients.org.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/patients.org.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/patients.org.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11031"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/patients.org.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11031\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11032,"href":"https:\/\/patients.org.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11031\/revisions\/11032"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/patients.org.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3254"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/patients.org.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11031"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/patients.org.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11031"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/patients.org.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11031"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}