Tag: Harm reduction

Five ideas to scale up hepatitis C services in Canada

Hepatitis C is curable. Today’s treatment regimens are highly effective and easy to complete. And it has the added benefit of preventing transmission to others, making it possible to eliminate hepatitis C from Canada. However, for many of the most marginalized people affected by hepatitis C in Canada, including people who use drugs, treatment remains frustratingly out of reach. Those who are most at risk are also the ones most often missed by healthcare services.

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“Connecting with Care” in Canada

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.

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Five ideas to improve drug user health in Canada

Hepatitis C prevention, testing and treatment exists within the larger context of drug user health. This broader approach to hepatitis C must address the intersections of harm reduction, overdose prevention, the social determinants of health, and human rights. How can we better integrate these multiple perspectives to our work? To find out, we sat down to hear ideas from the world’s leading voices in hepatitis C at the 8th International Conference on Hepatitis Care in Substance Users (INHSU 2019) in Montreal.

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INHSU 2019: Wholistic hepatitis C care, and the importance of care providers

Hundreds of clinicians, researchers and people with lived experience gathered in Montreal in September 2019 to highlight promising work in hepatitis C research and practice. The 8th International Conference on Hepatitis Care in Substance Users (INHSU 2019) showcased innovative models of care that support the delivery of hepatitis C treatment.

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Meeting people where they are is about much more than location: Delivering hepatitis C care and treatment to people who use drugs

Poverty, stigma and criminalization are chronic problems among people who use and inject drugs. But hepatitis C virus (HCV) is no longer such a problem, since it is usually cured by eight to 12 weeks of oral, direct-acting antivirals (DAAs). Delivering DAAs to people who use and inject drugs in the context of the chronic problems facing them is an opportunity to recognize and support the contribution of people with lived experience, and to build and strengthen systems and programs.

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