A Developed Guideline for Hepatitis C Virus Screening in General Population in Phetchabun Province

Abstract

Chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection leads to cirrhosis and Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). The objective of this action research was to develop screening guidelines and assess the outcomes of hepatitis C virus screening guidelines. Participants included 325,189 people in the general population aged 35 to 69 years old and 194 health officers: doctors, nurses, public health technical officers, and med technical officers. There were 3 phases of this study: (1) consideration (2) reflecting and analyzing (3) plan, implementation and evaluation. Data were collected by using documents and forum, which were gathered between September 2020 and December 2022. The quantitative data were analyzed with frequencies and percentages, and qualitative data was used for content analysis. The findings indicate that the following guidelines for hepatitis C virus screening of Phetchabun province: 1) The province health officer (PHO) was in charge of efficiently managing collaboration, monitoring performance, conducting follow-up visits to confirm information, and building capacity. 2) The PHO was in charge of organizing pertinent organizations, offering assistance with performance, gathering and transferring data, carrying out other duties, and organizing hospital referrals. 3) Health personal of community hospital and subdistrict health promotion hospital (SHPH) were in charge of taking blood to receive samples from patients by pricking their fingers in public and at hospitals. Furthermore, they corporate village health volunteers or community leaders to gather people who require rapid diagnostic screening test. After the guidance implementation, the anti-HCV screening volunteers increase from 14.1% to 54.2% (176,271 people) were screened, obtaining 10,777 anti-HCV positive results (6.11%). Among all HCV serological positive, 4,293 (39.8%) people were confirmed and 3,361 (78.40%) were identified as active HCV infection. This guideline is feasible to operate at community level and increasing access to HCV diagnostic screening rate up to 50% of the target population during in 2 years period and can expedite the diagnostic process to identify HCV infected patients in large scale.