Tag: Hepatitis C prevention

Uncovering gaps in hepatitis B and C services for immigrants and newcomers: A new report from Action Hepatitis Canada

May 22, 2024 • By Jennifer van Gennip

Immigrants and newcomers make up almost a quarter of Canada’s population, contributing enormously to the social, cultural, and economic vitality of our country. To ensure Canada upholds its commitment to the well-being of newcomers and the strength of our diverse communities, it’s essential to prioritize equitable access to healthcare. This not only safeguards the individual health and dignity of newcomers but also nurtures the resilience and prosperity of our society as a whole. Ensuring equitable healthcare means acknowledging that immigrants may have distinct needs due to cultural and linguistic barriers or other social determinants of health. They may also be...

New Canadian hepatitis C estimates tell us how far we’ve come (and how far we have to go)

July 4, 2023 • By Melisa Dickie and Shannon Elliot

Canada has joined countries around the world in committing to eliminate hepatitis C as a public health threat by 2030. However, how do we know if we’re on track to reach that goal and how do we measure our progress along the way? Fortunately, the World Health Organization established targets in its Global Health Sector Strategy on Viral Hepatitis, which have been adapted to the Canadian context by the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC). These targets lay out a path to elimination with concrete objectives, that include a 90% reduction in new hepatitis C infections by 2030, as...

Equitable hepatitis C elimination is achievable

July 5, 2022 • By Rivka Kushner and Lorraine Fradette

The 11th Canadian Symposium on Hepatitis C returned on May 13 as part of the 2022 Canadian Liver Meeting. Convened by the Canadian Network on Hepatitis C (CanHepC), the theme of the day was clear: getting back on track toward hepatitis C elimination.

How Rwanda is eliminating hepatitis C and what Canada can learn from its successes

November 18, 2021 • By Dr. Jean Damascene Makuza, Dahn Jeong and Sofia Bartlett

Rwanda is a country situated in sub-Saharan, eastern Africa with a high population density: 499 people per square kilometre in 2018 and a population of 12.6 million people in 2019, an increase of 2.64% from 2018. Although it is among the poorest countries in the world and experienced a genocide against the Tutsi people in 1994, Rwanda has made immense progress in the fields of public health, achieving its Millennium Development Goals for population health, such as reduction of under-five mortality and maternal mortality.

Five ways to sustain the hepatitis C elimination efforts in Canada

July 6, 2020 • By Christopher Hoy

This June, CATIE and the Canadian Network on Hepatitis C (CanHepC) co-hosted a webinar on sustaining the hepatitis C response before and after the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic. We invited leaders in the hepatitis C field to explore the challenges that the pandemic has posed for hepatitis C elimination efforts, but also the opportunities that could be leveraged. Here are just five of the ways we can do this:

“Connecting with Care” in Canada

February 5, 2020 • By Conor Ashleigh

In 2018, I had the opportunity to spend time in Iran profiling an innovative hepatitis C treatment project for people who use drugs. In partnership with Iranian and Australian researchers and local service providers, I interviewed a number of researchers, clinicians and patients to showcase their success at curing hepatitis C despite stigma and other barriers. As an Australian filmmaker, I have spent much of my working life telling stories of social change with communities throughout Asia, the Middle East and Africa. Yet stories from Canada and North America had remained the most unknown to me.