Humankind has the capacity and knowledge to eliminate the Hepatitis C virus from Earth – but stigma, prejudice and greed stand in the way. Watch our movie produced in cooperation with the Correlation Network and learn more!
Correlation Network, together with a number of partners, organised a Hepatitis C Community Summit in April 2017 in Amsterdam, because this is a historic moment for Hepatitis C treatment. With the advent of direct-acting antivirals (DAAs) we can now massively reduce the harm from an infectious disease that affects millions of people and causes hundreds of thousands of unnecessary deaths every year. Interferon-free DAA regimes are short, highly tolerable, and simple to deliver, with cure rates of over 90%.
Hepatitis C elimination will on the one hand require an enormous scale-up in testing and treatment, along with comprehensive harm reduction services including in prisons, and on the other hand a sustained collaborative effort to combat the stigma, discrimination, and criminalisation faced by people who inject drugs, as well as other priority communities, like migrants and men having sex with men.
Communities, harm reduction, and community representatives must participate in formulating and implementing Hepatitis C prevention, testing, and treatment strategies because these stakeholders have unique knowledge about what will be accessible, acceptable, and effective. Without their close and ongoing involvement, the effort to eliminate Hepatitis C is likely to fail.
The video highlights the most important aspects of the Community Summit and relevant topics to address for Hepatitis C elimination.
For more information www.hepatitiscommunitysummit.eu
Video by Peter Sarosi and Istvan Gabor Takacs
Article by Eberhard Schatz, Correlation Network
