Tag: Hepatitis C treatment

Tackling misconceptions: Hepatitis C treatment for people who use drugs

April 22, 2024 • By Romane Close

With the advent of treatments called direct-acting antivirals (DAAs), a huge number of people across Canada have been successfully cured of hepatitis C. However, efforts to cure some of the most affected communities continue to be hindered by incorrect or outdated information. For example, many successes in curing hepatitis C have been achieved through the determination of people who use drugs, and yet they still encounter access barriers due to discrimination and problematic misconceptions around treatment eligibility. These gaps in knowledge can be addressed by raising awareness about hepatitis C treatment and organizations across Canada have been working to clarify...

Busting common myths about hepatitis C treatment in Canada

March 19, 2024 • By Sofia Bartlett

Highly effective medications that can cure hepatitis C infection, called direct-acting antivirals (DAAs), have been approved for use in Canada for people over the age of 18 since 2014. These medications are well-tolerated, nearly 100% effective, and have treatment durations of just eight or 12 weeks. DAAs have simplified hepatitis C treatment considerably, allowing treatments to be prescribed by primary care providers, such as nurse practitioners and family doctors. Now that the treatment itself is so simple, getting coverage for reimbursement of DAAs is the most complicated and challenging aspect of treating hepatitis C infection in Canada. Almost 90% of...

Treating hepatitis C in children: How does it work?

July 4, 2023 • By Dr. Fernando Alvarez

Did you know that hepatitis C is a liver infection that can be cured within eight to 12 weeks thanks to treatments that are nearly 100% effective? Called direct-acting antivirals, these treatments were first designed for people over the age of 18, but treatment options for people under the age of 18 have also been developed in recent years. This includes a treatment approved in Canada for children aged three years and older, which is a game changer in the pediatric context. Romane Close, CATIE’s specialist for resource development and knowledge mobilization, had the chance to speak with Dr. Fernando Alvarez,...

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.

Holding governments accountable: Canada’s progress on viral hepatitis elimination

July 7, 2021 • By Jennifer van Gennip

In May 2021, Action Hepatitis Canada (AHC) released its Progress Toward Viral Hepatitis Elimination in Canada 2021 Report. Five years earlier, in May 2016, Canada had signed on to the World Health Organization’s (WHO) first-ever Global Viral Hepatitis Strategy with the goal of eliminating viral hepatitis as a public health threat by 2030. With both a cure for hepatitis C (HCV) and a vaccine for hepatitis B (HBV), this seemed to be a very realistic goal within a reasonable timeframe. But five years on, we had important questions about how Canada was really doing as time was ticking on.