Scaling up hepatitis C testing and linkage-to-care among people who use drugs: lessons learned from a pilot project implemented at a supervised consumption site.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Despite rolling out publicly-funded hepatitis C virus (HCV) treatment across the province of British Columbia (BC), Canada, 35% of people returning positive HCV RNA results in 2020 did not initiate treatment. The HCV epidemic in Canada continues to disproportionately impact people who use drugs and yet, this population has the lowest proportional uptake of HCV treatment. Evidence suggests linkages to healthcare after diagnosis is one of the key factors that impacts uptake of HCV treatment among this priority population. The Hep C Connect pilot project was implemented to characterize HCV testing outcomes and linkage-to-care rates within a low-barrier supervised consumption site (SCS) in Vancouver, BC.

Methods

All clients (aged ≥ 19 years) attending the Hope to Heal

SUBMITTER: Hannigan A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11823232 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature