Enhancing Access to Care for Chronic Hepatitis C Infected Populations in Hong Kong

In the current era of highly effective direct acting antiviral (DAA) therapy, the remaining obstacles to elimination of chronic HCV infection are identification of the high-risk groups, linkage to continued care and prevention of re-infection. It is estimated that 70-80% of patients with chronic HCV are unaware of their infection. Besides, public health education is limited and most patients are not aware that the current standard-of-care is highly effective, well tolerated and no longer require weekly subcutaneous injections. From a survey in Hong Kong in 2014, among 234 newly diagnosed HCV patients, only 20% agreed to undergo treatment. There is no universal screening programme for chronic hepatitis C infection in Hong Kong. and known high-risk patients include people who inject drugs (PWID), persons with certain medical conditions including those on hemodialysis, HIV infected, those with prior transfusion or organ transplantation. In this study, the investigators plan to reach out to PWIDs, people with substance abuse or prison inmates to provide rapid point-of-care screening for chronic hepatitis C infection, and to provide linkage to care for those diagnosed with chronic hepatitis C.