Simplifying HCV treatment: a pathway to elimination and model for delivering health care to vulnerable populations

Abstract

The availability of safe, effective, short-course, all oral direct-acting antivirals (DAAs) has opened the door to the possibility that chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection could one day be eliminated. Consequently, in 2016, WHO set targets for the elimination of HCV as a public health threat by 2030. Achieving elimination without a vaccine requires that more than 80% of the 58 million people currently estimated to be living with chronic HCV worldwide are treated. With less than 10 years to go, the treatment gap remains enormous—only an estimated 21% of the global population with chronic HCV had been diagnosed and, of these, only 62% treated by the end of 2019.