Steep declines in hepatitis C among people who inject drugs show Australia’s treatment for all approach is working

The report, published in the lead-up to World Hepatitis Day this Sunday, analyses data from people who inject drugs attending Australia’s Needle Syringe Programs (NSP). Among this population, the proportion of people living with hepatitis C in 2018 was one in five, down from one in two in 2015 before the treatments were made available.

Researchers from the Kirby Institute believe that these unprecedented reductions are due to high uptake of new hepatitis C treatments and are an early indicator for reductions in transmission of hepatitis C Australia-wide.

“People who inject drugs are the major population at risk of hepatitis C in Australia, and thanks to forward-thinking and inclusive leadership from the Federal Government, people are able to access the cures at a low cost through the PBS,” said Dr Jenny Iversen, lead author of the report. “Since these new treatments were added to the PBS, our report shows the number of people attending NSPs ever treated for hepatitis C has increased from 11% to 55%.”

As part of this report, researchers have also monitored the impact of the new treatments on prevalence of hepatitis C. “Our results show that there are significantly less people living with hepatitis C, but also, that the risk of transmitting hepatitis C has more than halved since the introduction of the new treatments,” said Dr Iversen.

Australia was one of the first countries in the world to offer hepatitis C treatments at a low cost to all people living with the illness. Professor Greg Dore, head of the Kirby Institute’s Viral Hepatitis Clinical Research Program said that it’s this approach that could make Australia the first country in the world to eliminate hepatitis C.

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