Tag: Hepatitis C | Page 8

Canada’s anti-harm reduction guardians close door on hepatitis strategy

October 13, 2015 • By Laurie Edmiston and Melisa Dickie

We just returned from the first World Hepatitis Summit hosted by the World Hepatitis Alliance (WHA) in partnership with the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Scottish government. The Scottish government was a partner because Scotland has exercised leadership in the fight against hepatitis C and, unlike Canada, has a national strategy to combat hepatitis C.* The focus of the World Hepatitis Summit was viral hepatitis, specifically hepatitis B and C. Hepatitis B has a vaccine; giving it to newborns or school-age children in Canada is standard practice. However, this is not the case in much of the developing...

Oh Canada, we’re ready for your leadership

September 30, 2015 • By Patricia Bacon

I had the honour of attending the recent and first-ever World Hepatitis Summit in Glasgow, Scotland from September 2-4, 2015. What a treat it was to come together with hundreds of other people from around the globe to discuss the often ignored health issue of viral hepatitis. Here I was, “amongst my people,” talking like crazy about viral hepatitis as if it were important or something. How new and novel, because here in Canada viral hepatitis is the conversation we never have, despite the fact that at least 250,000 Canadians are affected by it.

If a cure for the hepatitis C virus exists, does eradication become a public responsibility?

July 22, 2015 • By Adam Cook

Since 2004 many patient groups and advocacy organizations have observed a day of awareness for viral hepatitis, but it was not until the 63rd annual World Health Assembly in 2010 that the World Health Organization officially declared July 28 as the international day to raise awareness, World Hepatitis Day (WHD). WHD is observed by agencies across the world seeking to address the global epidemic of viral hepatitis that impacts 400 million people worldwide.

Hepatitis C in Canada

July 6, 2015 • By admin

What is hepatitis C? How many people in Canada are affected? With World Hepatitis Day approaching on July 28, service providers have an opportunity to raise awareness about the impact of hepatitis C across Canada. To help you get the message out to the communities you serve, CATIE has produced a series of infographics.

Cured of Hep C, but still living with it

March 16, 2015 • By Hermione Jefferis

What happens when much of your life is built around a particular position or identity, and then that identity changes? In 1993, while in the hospital having my daughter, I was diagnosed with hepatitis C. Three years ago, I did the ribavirin and pegylated interferon treatment and cleared the virus. It’s very cool to be living virus-free after 25+ years of being positive, but it is also kind of weird.

Déjà vu: Canada’s drug reviewers again mired in bureaucracy

February 16, 2015 • By Adam Cook

The development of treatment for the cure of hepatitis C (HCV) is moving at a dizzying pace. Indeed, the entire HCV story is one of an unusually fast trajectory, not only the speed of treatment development, but also the spread of the virus. While early cures were injection-based, difficult to tolerate, and boasting a mere 50% success rate after a year of treatment, there now exist cures that involve one pill, once a day, for a regimen that often doesn’t exceed twelve weeks. There are clinical trials being conducted presently to evaluate the efficacy of new treatments at eight and...