Excellent news from UK Health Security Agency regarding the progress towards hepatitis C elimination – please see the key points and link below.

 A brief summary of the main findings from the report are as follows: 

·        around 55,900 adults aged 16 years and over were estimated to be living with chronic hepatitis C in 2023, a decrease of 56.7% since 2015 

·        the prevalence of chronic hepatitis C in people who inject drugs has continued to decrease since 2017 and was 7.2% in 2023.

·        1 in 3 people who reported injecting drugs in the past month reported having inadequate needle and syringe provision for their needs.

·        the WHO target for at least 40% of people who inject drugs who are dependent on opioids to be receiving opioid agonist therapy has been met at 58.1% in tax year 2019 to 2020 (latest available)

·        the annual hepatitis C virus-related End-Stage Liver Disease and/or hepatocellular carcinoma mortality rate was 0.41 per 100,000 population in 2023, indicating that the WHO target to reduce mortality to ≤2 per 100,000 has been surpassed in England

·        between 2015 and 2023, the rate of reinfection with hepatitis C was 6.4 per 100 person years

·        78.3% of individuals diagnosed with chronic hepatitis C between 2015 and 2023 initiated treatment. This proportion indicates that England has nearly achieved the WHO target for treatment coverage of ≥80%. Among individuals who were diagnosed and linked to care, 96.1% initiated treatment.

·        the proportion of sharps purchased by NHS Supply Chain that were safety-engineered has increased to 83% in 2023, this proportion is currently below the WHO target of 90%

·       work is underway, in collaboration with stakeholders, to estimate progress towards the WHO absolute incidence target among people who inject drugs, and the WHO target of greater than or equal to 90% of people living with hepatitis C being diagnosed.

Link: Hepatitis C in England and the UK – GOV.UK

See also: Hepatitis B in England 2024 – GOV.UK