[Challenges in accessing treatment for chronic hepatitis B in Madagascar : A qualitative study of caregivers and...

Madagascar faces many difficulties in accessing diagnosis and treatment of hepatitis B. The prevalence of chronic hepatitis B infection is estimated at 6.9%. The costs associated with screening and treatment are high and not easily accessible. This article proposes a reflection on the challenges and difficulties of access to diagnosis and treatment for patients with chronic hepatitis B.

The "Neo Vac" study aimed to document the life paths of people living with chronic hepatitis B, their difficulties and their perceptions of HBV. Twenty-three semi-structured interviews were conducted in 2019 in Antananarivo with patients and gastroenterologists.

The study describes the numerous obstacles that mark the therapeutic pathways of chronic HBV patients. The first result indicates lack of knowledge of the disease by chronic HBV patients and the varied circumstances in which the disease is discovered. None of the persons interviewed had been screened on their own initiative, the screening having taken place during prenatal consultations or emergency hospitalizations or during a morbidity episode. The care pathway was characterized by doubt and anxiety due to lack of knowledge about the possible disease outcome and concern about the costs of care.

Little known by the population and health professionals, hepatitis B is rarely the subject of voluntary screening and is most often detected during an apparently unrelated health event. The exorbitant cost of treatment for patients, the cost of medical analyses and secondary costs, and the unavailability of follow-up tests outside the capital constitute barriers to access to care that are insurmountable for the majority of the Malagasy population.

This first qualitative study on the experiences of HBV-infected persons in terms of access to care and treatment in Madagascar underlines the extent to which access to treatment remains limited, due to the absence of a national policy for the prevention, screening and management of hepatitis B, which remains a highly neglected and unrecognized disease in Madagascar as well as internationally.