Swiss Hepatitis Symposium 2020: 10 years to go!

The importance of data and politics

Covid-19 has the world still tight in its grip. The pandemic acts like a magnifying glass, showing us what the challenges in public health are. However, we can also learn from it in order to eliminate viral hepatitis.

It has become abundantly clear in recent months that scientists have been struggling to get their voices heard during the coronavirus pandemic. Health authorities and politicians in turn were not always successful when it came to evidence-based decision-making. At the same time, the importance of good, up-to-date surveillance of the epidemiological situation has become clear. The same applies to hepatitis B and C: we lack data to measure our progress in the fight against these infectious diseases.

We will be reflecting on how we can improve the data situation in Switzerland and will attempt to close some of the gaps. Moreover, we will discuss what policy makers need to make the right public health decisions.

As last year, the Swiss Society for Public Health and Swiss Hepatitis are organising the symposium jointly. Due to the COVID 19 pandemic, the symposium was held virtually this year.