Hepatitis C: Canada must move from words to action

July 28 is World Hepatitis Day.

Hepatitis C is a serious viral infection that affects more than 220,000 Canadians. A person can live 20 to 30 years with the virus before the symptoms manifest themselves, which is both a blessing and a curse.

Because it can elude so long a diagnosis, hepatitis C can cause serious liver damage, and if left untreated, it can even lead to death.

Undiagnosed cases can lead to even more serious health problems – liver injury, cancer, and death – thus increasing the burden on our public health system.

Fortunately, there are new drugs that cure more than 95% of people with hepatitis C. These new treatments are more effective, shorter in duration and have fewer side effects than previous drug generation.

And since last year, these drugs are available through public health insurance plans in every province and territory in Canada.

The feasibility of curing every Canadian living with hepatitis C has given way to the possibility that we can truly eliminate the public health threat posed by the virus.

In 2016, our government joined 193 countries around the world to ratify an international commitment to eliminate the virus by 2030. Many of these countries immediately came into action.

Egypt, which bears the title of holder of the largest number of hepatitis C cases, can now claim to have the largest number of people cured of the infection.

Their progress is so remarkable that they have set their own ambitious goal of eliminating hepatitis C by 2020, ten years ahead of the rest of the world.

Previously reserved for liver specialists, the delivery of treatment has been extended to primary care physicians to heal more people faster.

Australia has also invested resources and support in harm reduction and other services for people who use drugs, preventing new infections and re-infection after a person has been cured. The country is on track to meet its elimination targets in 10 to 15 years.

Canada, too slow

Other jurisdictions have adopted a microelimination approach to achieve their targets, which means eliminating hepatitis C in geographic areas, within specific populations and age groups or contexts.

El Dueso, a Spanish prison, has virtually eliminated hepatitis C through a "detect and treat" program and provides harm reduction services such as needle and syringe programs.

Within a year of committing to the global targets for hepatitis C elimination, 82 countries had already implemented their phase-out programs, a third of which were funded.

In contrast, Canada has been slow to take action to meet the hepatitis C elimination targets it has set itself, or to develop a concrete plan of action.

Our federal government has proposed a framework to eliminate hepatitis C, along with other blood-borne infections. But since health care is a provincial responsibility, the only way to get from words to deeds is by coordinating and funding a common plan of action for all levels of government from coast to coast to coast.

Take action

An action plan to diagnose and treat all Canadians with hepatitis C, with concrete targets and funding to support it, could help us heal these people before the cost of their health care multiplies exponentially.

Canada's leading experts on hepatitis C have already developed a blueprint for this action plan. Together with the Canadian Hepatitis C Network (CanHepC), they have published a detailed document that presents methods that Canada and other countries have tried to multiply the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of hepatitis C.

The A blueprint to guide Canada's hepatitis C elimination efforts offers a range of solutions that inform decision-makers in the development of their action plans, tailored to the context and needs of their regions, and to fulfill our commitment to eliminate hepatitis C once and for all.

With a simple and effective remedy at our disposal, and an action plan ready for adoption, all we need to reach the other 193 countries committed to eliminating hepatitis C is political will.