Availability versus access: testing and treatment for chronic hepatitis C infection for persons who inject drugs and in prisons

Annette Verster, Sarah Hess, Niklas Luhmann, Yvan Hutin, Virginia Macdonald, Ena Oru

Background– Since the introduction of highly effective direct acting antivirals in 2014, more than 3 million of the 71 million people chronically infected with hepatitis C (HCV) have been treated. People who inject drugs (PWID) represent around 6.1 million of the 71 million total infected. There is no reliable data on what proportion of the 3 million people treated are people who inject drugs or people in prison. PWID and incarcerated people are disproportionately affected by hepatitis C infection. It is estimated that almost one in four new HCV infections globally and one in three HCV deaths are attributable to injecting drug use. Documenting access to testing and DAA treatment for these populations will be a critical part of measuring progress towards the elimination of hepatitis C and advocating for increased access.
Methodology– A review of national policies and practices regarding testing and treatment of hepatitis C for PWID and in prisons will be undertaken. The review will consider specific inclusion and exclusion criteria. In addition, available disaggregated data on testing and treatment coverage for PWID at a national level will be compiled and triangulated with the results from the policy review.
Results – to be presented; and the report to be launched at the conference.
Conclusion– Despite the relatively quick treatment scale up for hepatitis C and impressive price reductions of the medicines, availability of DAA treatment is not uniform across countries and access not equal among populations within countries.