- •
Local strategies must be developed to implement hepatitis C elimination programs.
- •
Coalitions of community advocates, health and social service providers, researchers, legal experts, and government representatives have come together in New York State, San Francisco, California, and Massachusetts to create hepatitis C virus elimination plans.
- •
Barriers to the hepatitis C care continuum can be addressed on a local level using new and existing resources.
- •
Funding remains a challenge and focus of
Localized US Efforts to Eliminate Hepatitis C
Section snippets
Key points
Background: Hepatitis C virus in New York State
Since 2001, more than 254,200 chronic HCV cases have been reported in New York state. In 2014, there were 16,169 chronic HCV cases and 127 acute cases reported. The statewide HCV case rate in 2014 was 83.4 per 100,000. The rate was higher in New York City (94.1 per 100,000) than outside of New York City (75.7 per 100,000). Although New York City has historically been the epicenter of the state’s HCV epidemic, in 2014 more than one-half (51.2%) of new chronic hepatitis C cases were diagnosed
San Francisco hepatitis C virus elimination initiative: End Hep C SF
San Francisco is profoundly impacted by HCV. An estimated 22,000 San Franciscans have HCV antibodies, and of those, approximately 12,000 are estimated to have current HCV infection.6 As in many other communities, in San Francisco, HCV disproportionately impacts Baby Boomers (people born between 1945 and 1965) and some of our most vulnerable and stigmatized people, including PWID and men who have sex with men (Fig. 2).7 In addition, San Francisco has the highest rate of hepatocellular carcinoma
Coalition to eliminate hepatitis C virus in Massachusetts
The Massachusetts End Hep C-MA coalition grew out of a long-standing organization called the Massachusetts Viral Hepatitis Coalition. With the recognition that challenges facing people living with HCV infection and strategies for elimination were quite different from those needed to control or eliminate hepatitis B virus infection, it was decided to reorganize and create an organization that explicitly focused on the mission of HCV elimination. End Hep C MA was adopted from the San Francisco
Summary
These 3 examples of US state and local HCV elimination initiatives have common elements. All have diverse coalitions composed of community-based organizations, academic and community health centers, and public health officials. In each model, relationships with public health officials are handled similarly; the public health officials provide data and assistance, but are also the recipients of policy initiatives. Each has created working groups to define and execute on coalition goals. There
Acknowledgments
The authors thank all members of the HCV elimination coalitions in New York, San Francisco, and Massachusetts for the work they do to make eliminating HCV a reality.
References (18)
- et al.
A national strategy for the elimination of hepatitis B and C: phase two report
(2017) - The U.S. National Viral Hepatitis Action Plan for 2017-2020. Office of HIV/AIDS and Infectious disease policy of the...
- New York State HIV Epidemiological Profile September 2016. Available at:...
- New York State Department of Health. The changing face of the hepatitis C epidemic New York State (Excluding NYC) - new...
- New York State Department of Health. 2015 Blueprint for achieving the goal set forth by Governor Cuomo to end the...
- Facente SN, Grebe E, Burk K, et al. Estimated hepatitis C prevalence and key population sizes in San Francisco: a...
- End Hep C SF. Hepatitis C in San Francisco. San Francisco, CA. 2017. Available at:...
United States cancer statistics: 1999-2014 incidence and mortality web-based report
(2017)- et al.
State HCV incidence and policies related to HCV preventive and treatment services for persons who inject drugs — United States, 2015–2016
MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep
(2017)
There are more references available in the full text version of this article.
Cited by (14)
Hepatitis C mortality trends in San Francisco: can we reach elimination targets?
2022, Annals of EpidemiologyCitation Excerpt :In 2016, San Francisco was the first U.S. county to establish a local initiative to eliminate HCV [7]. End Hep C SF is a collective impact initiative aimed at eliminating the public health burden of HCV by increasing prevention, testing and linkage, and treatment services for communities hardest hit by HCV [8]. This study relied on vital registry data between 1999 and 2019 to assess changes in HCV-related mortality trends pre and post DAA treatment availability.
Elimination of hepatitis C. Positioning document of the Spanish Association for the Study of the Liver (AEEH)
2019, Gastroenterologia y HepatologiaHepatitis C care cascade in a large academic healthcare system, 2012 to 2018
2023, Medicine (United States)Hepatitis C Elimination During a Global Pandemic: A Case Study of Resilience in Action
2022, Public Health Reports
Disclosure Statement: End Hep C SF has received a charitable donation from Abbvie Pharmaceuticals and a grant from the Gilead Foundation (K. Burk). Research grant support to UCSF related to HCV from AbbVie (32175), Gilead and Merck (A. Luetkemeyer). Nothing to disclose (A. Gaudino, B. Gay, C. Garmon, M. Selick, R. Vreeland, E. Huriaux, S.N. Facente, P. Waters, C.S. Graham).
© 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.