The importance of civil society involvement to eliminate hepatitis C

On 18 and 19 April 2017 in Amsterdam, just before the International Liver Congress organised by the European Association of the Study of the Liver,, a Community Summit on Hepatitis C came together to discuss recent developments.  It was decided to submit an urgent call to policy-makers, health care providers, health insurance providers and the pharmaceutical industry to work in collaboration with the affected communities and their organizations to achieve the much needed scaling up of hepatitis C awareness, testing and treatment. A declaration was developed through consultation with a large number of stakeholders from community, NGO and European Network level.  

In 2016, the World Health Organization (WHO) established the ambitious target of achieving a 90% reduction in new infections and a 65% reduction in deaths from the hepatitis C virus by 2030. If European countries are to reach this target, they must address the HCV prevention, testing, and treatment needs of people who inject drugs and other risk groups.

 A global mechanism for national governments to report on progress toward the WHO viral hepatitis targets needs to be put into operation, and it will be essential to secure a role for civil society representatives in the reporting process. It is particularly important to include the perspectives of community representatives who are well informed about what is happening and needed at the community level.

The declaration is signed by a large number of European networks and organizations and is accessible at www.hepatitiscommunityssummit.eu