#CanHepDay24 #HepCantWait
Today, Thursday May 9th marks the third annual Canadian Viral Hepatitis Elimination Day in Canada.
Action Hepatitis Canada (AHC)
AHC, along with CanHepC, CanHepB, the Canadian Liver Foundation, and the Canadian Association for the Study of the Liver spent the day at Parliament Hill in Ottawa to talk to the government officials about the federal government’s role in eliminating viral hepatitis. Although much of this work falls on the individual provinces and territories, there are some key actions the federal government can take now, including:
- Planning: Add targets to measure progress in eliminating viral hepatitis to the 2025-2030 STBBI Action Plan
- Testing: Update hepatitis C screening guidelines to be evidence-based, develop evidence-based screening guidelines for hepatitis B, and start offering free, voluntary STBBI testing and linkage to care for all immigrants and newcomers.
- Testing-to-Treatment: Engage manufacturers of point-of-care testing technologies to bring these tests to Canada.
- Prevention: Update NACI guidelines to recommend universal birth-dose hepatitis B vaccination.
- Data: Fund and increase efforts to collect updated hepatitis B and C prevalence estimates and population-specific cascades of care for all Canadian provinces and territories.
More information on the five federal asks, and information in both official languages, can be found here.
Today also marks the launch of AHC’s report “Immigration is Public Health: opportunities to improve hepatitis B and C prevention, diagnosis, and care for immigrants and newcomers to Canada.”
Why focus on immigrants and newcomers to combat viral hepatitis?
3M immigrants make up 23% of the Canadian population, including almost 100% of populations growth and 100% of labour force growth, filling gaps resulting from our aging populations and lower fertility rates,- Immigrants and newcomers account for a disproportionate number of Canada’s hepatitis C cases (30%) and hepatitis B cases (up to 70%),
- Immigrants and newcomers face unique barriers to diagnosis and care, and
- Early detection and linkage to care, and in the case of hepatitis B, prevention through vaccination, can lead to better outcomes and avoid needless suffering for individuals, elevate the immigrant workforce, and ease the future strain on Canada’s healthcare system by avoiding cases of liver disease and liver cancer
To read and download the full report, click here.
BC’s Viral Hepatitis Elimination Roadmap
As work to eliminate viral hepatitis by 2030 happens across the country, so to, does the work here in British Columbia. The Hepatitis Elimination Roadmap project being co-led by Sofia Bartlett (BC Centre for Disease Control) and Deb Schmitz (BC Hepatitis Network), has an objective to gain comprehensive insights into the current status of viral hepatitis within the province. They aim to establish clear targets and goals for eliminating viral hepatitis in BC, while identifying and proposing effective strategies, activities, and policy adjustments, including the necessary implementation and monitoring resources to successfully achieve viral hepatitis elimination by 2030.
To learn more about how you can get involved, click here.