FUTURE HEALTH
NATIONAL
AUSTRALIAN HEPATITIS C POINT-OF- CARE TESTING PROGRAM
Enhancing hepatitis C point-of-care testing and treatment to facilitate elimination
RESEARCH PROJECT
Progress towards hepatitis C elimination is impeded by low testing and treatment due to the current diagnostic pathway requiring multiple visits leading to loss of follow-up .
New point-of-care hepatitis C testing technologies capable of detecting current hepatitis C infection in one hour are a ‘ game-changer ’. This project has been scaling-up point-of-care hepatitis C tests that enable same-visit testing and treatment to improve treatment uptake through a national program for test implementation .
This project has partnered with > 150 consumer , practice , and policy stakeholders to deliver a national program to implement point-ofcare hepatitis C testing at 90 sites nationally ( 420 services ), including community clinics and prisons .
This project is currently in the early phases of national scale-up .
> Evidence from this program was used by Cepheid ( manufacturer ) for test development and regulatory agencies in Europe ( 2018 ) and Australia ( 2020 ) to inform test approval .
> Evidence from this program was used by global ( e . g . WHO ) and national ( e . g . Department of Health ) organisations to include point-of-care hepatitis C testing in guidelines / policy .
> Increased hepatitis C testing ( 18,494 tests ), diagnosis ( 2,184 people with current infection ) and treatment ( 1,467 people ), with 9 % of all hepatitis C treatment in Australia now delivered through the program .
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