Indigenous Australians & Hepatitis Elimination D
ecember saw the launch of the Progress Towards Hepatitis C Elimination Among Aboriginal And Torres Strait Islander People In Australia report. This is the first report to provide a measure of progress of
hepatitis C elimination among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in Australia. Unrestricted access to government-subsidised direct-acting antiviral (DAA) therapy for hepatitis C has seen some encouraging
impacts, including large numbers of people being treated and some declines in hepatitis C-related liver failure and mortality. However, findings highlight a number of gaps, particularly in overall treatment uptake and harm reduction, and worries about new hepatitis C infections, of particular concern among young Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander men. Lifetime history for hepatitis C testing is relatively high among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, and comparable to that among non-Indigenous people. But research has found that recent (in the previous 12 months) hepatitis C RNA testing among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people who inject drugs remains suboptimal. Regular hepatitis C testing is pivotal to ensure timely diagnosis and linkage to treatment. Although treatment uptake among Aboriginal and Torres Strait people has improved considerably since the availability of DAA therapy, it too remains suboptimal, and is consistently lower than among non-Indigenous people. This has been corroborated by findings from a range of studies
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HEPATITIS SA COMMUNITY NEWS 92 • January 2022
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