Source: UKHSA
UKHSA has published its report ‘Hepatitis C in the UK 2023: Working to eliminate hepatitis C as a public health threat’. The report reviews the progress that has been made towards the WHO target of eliminating hepatitis C by 2030, and is based on data up to the end of 2021.
An estimated 92,900 are living with chronic hepatitis C infection in the UK, representing a 47% decrease since 2015.If The report estimates that, if this current rate of prevalence reduction continues, the UK will be on track to achieve an 80% decrease in chronic HCV prevalence by 2030 compared to 2015. ~90% of those who were diagnosed with an infection and linked to care over the past 5 years have started treatment. However, Only 3/4 of patients who were diagnosed with chronic HCV in the UK between 2015 and 2020 were linked to specialist HCV treatment services, and less than 3/4 of those who started their treatment were recorded as having successfully cleared their infection. Furthermore, almost three-quarters of those still living with chronic HCV remain unaware of their infection, and both testing and treatment have yet to fully recover from the impact of the pandemic. The report notes that ‘more needs to be done to prevent new infections and reinfections’.