Resources inspired by Hep C in Focus. Connect, learn, dive deeper.
Peer support and leadership
Hepatitis C Leadership Project
PAN’s peer-led initiative where hepatitis C community leaders will model their skills and knowledge to inspire other BC community members to embark on leadership journeys.
Help4HepBC offers a peer-to-peer helpline where Peer Navigators work with callers to meet the challenges of hepatitis C head-on. Available by phone or text.
HepCBC is a non-profit organization run by and for people infected and affected by viral hepatitis. Our mission is to provide education, prevention and support to those living with viral hepatitis.
HCV Manifesto shows some of the challenges people with lived experience of hepatitis C, and ways these can be approached.
Pacific Hepatitis C Network works with community and stakeholders to inform, support, and strengthen the response to hep C in BC, and access to care, treatment and support for people living with hepatitis.
HepatitisCNet is an online community featuring stories, forums and articles written by people with hepatitis C for people with hepatitis C.
Learn Online
Learn with Others
CATIE’s Hepatitis C Basics course aims to provide foundation knowledge of hepatitis C, covering topics such as hepatitis C transmission, testing, treatment, prevention and health literacy. This is an introductory-level course geared toward service providers who work with people at risk of or living with hepatitis C. Complete modules online then conclude with live learning webinar. October 6 to 30, 2020: Open registration (Canada-wide)
Self-paced
Hepatitis C Basics: like the learn with others option above, this course provides foundation knowledge in hepatitis C (Hep C) for service providers who work with people living with or at risk of Hep C. The course content covers transmission, testing, treatment and health literacy. 4 hours, free.
Hepatitis C Treatment: another self-paced course through CATIE that aims to develop in-depth knowledge on the treatment of hepatitis C for frontline service providers working with clients who have hepatitis C or are at risk for hepatitis C. Through this course, participants will gain information on the benefits of treatment and an overview of what treatment for hepatitis C typically includes.
Hepatitis C moments in history: listen, watch, and read
Listen: Hepatitis C: Hepatiti? Episode 45 of This Podcast Will Kill You
Hepatitis C was named in 1989, and it’s had quite a history. The two Erins – Erin Welsh, PhD and Erin Allmann Updyke, PhD – will walk you through the biology of hep C and look at the “often bizarre and disturbing history of blood technology, discussing how a lack of sterilization and screening allowed for the proliferation of the Hepatitis C virus around the world.”
Read a Brief History of Hepatitis C, a timeline from CATIE that follows hepatitis C screening, treatment and advocacy from 1989 to the present.
Canada’s Tainted Blood Scandal
Read: Commission of Inquiry on the Blood System in Canada – the Krever Report
Watch: Watch: Unspeakable is an eight episode TV dramatization of the tragedy in which contaminated blood and blood products infected thousands of Canadian patients with hepatitis C and HIV.
Read: , from the Canadian Medical Association Journal, looks at changes to the blood system as a result of the Krever findings.
Go deeper
“Everybody living with a chronic disease is entitled to be cured”: Challenges and opportunities in scaling up access to direct-acting antiviral hepatitis C virus treatment among people who inject drugs – Trevor Goodyear et al, 2020
Who Are We Missing: Changing the Hep C Cascade of Care for Women/ Stigma Big and Small: Stigma Experiences for Women – Emma Currie, Hermione Jefferis, Jessica Lamb, Cheryl Reitz, Jennifer Westerby, Margo Pearce, July 16, 2020
BC Hepatitis Testers Cohort: The purpose of the BC-HTC is to monitor disease burden related to hepatitis and associated infections and social conditions, evaluate impact of interventions, and monitor hepatitis program progress to inform policy and programming in BC and Canada.
The BC Centre for Disease Control: Hepatitis C information for people in BC, including symptoms, causes, tests, treatments and more.
Canadian Liver Foundation: information and support by phone or online.
World Hepatitis Day: Worldwide, 290 million people are living with viral hepatitis unaware. Without finding the undiagnosed and linking them to care, millions will continue to suffer, and lives will be lost. On World Hepatitis Day, 28 July, we call on people from across the world to take action and raise awareness to find the “missing millions”.