Key Elements on the Pathway to HCV Elimination: Lessons Learned From the AASLD HCV Special Interest Group 2020.

Abstract

With a decade left to reach the ambitious goals for viral hepatitis elimination set out by the World Health Organization, many challenges remain. Despite the remarkable improvements in therapy for hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection, most people living with the infection remain undiagnosed, and only a fraction have received curative therapy. Accordingly, the 2020 HCV Special Interest Group symposium at the annual American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases Liver Meeting examined policies and strategies for the scale‐up of HCV testing and expanded access to HCV care and treatment outside the specialty setting, including primary care and drug treatment and settings for care of persons who inject drugs and other marginalized populations at risk for HCV infection. The importance of these paradigms in elimination efforts, including micro‐elimination strategies, was explored, and the session also included discussion of hepatitis C vaccine development and other strategies to reduce mortality through the use of organs from HCV‐infected organ donors for HCV‐negative recipients. In this review, the key concepts raised at this important symposium are summarized.