The 8th Canadian Symposium on Hepatitis C virus: "Improving diagnosis and linkage to care"

Sophie E Cousineau; Aysegul Erman; Lewis Liu; Sahar Saeed; Lorraine Fradette; Jordan J Feld; Jason Grebely; Sonya A MacParland; Naglaa H Shoukry; Giada Sebastiani; Selena M Sagan; Canadian Network on Hepatitis C (CanHepC)

doi:10.3138/canlivj.2019-0032

The 8^th Canadian Symposium on Hepatitis C virus: "Improving diagnosis and linkage to care"

Can Liver J. 2020 Feb 24;3(1):3-14. doi: 10.3138/canlivj.2019-0032. eCollection 2020 Winter.

Authors

Sophie E Cousineau¹, Aysegul Erman^{2

3}, Lewis Liu⁴, Sahar Saeed⁵, Lorraine Fradette⁶, Jordan J Feld⁷, Jason Grebely⁸, Sonya A MacParland^{9

10}, Naglaa H Shoukry⁶, Giada Sebastiani^{11

12}, Selena M Sagan^{1

13

12}; Canadian Network on Hepatitis C (CanHepC)

Affiliations

¹ Department of Microbiology and Immunology, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec.
² Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario.
³ Toronto Health Economics and Technology Assessment Collaborative (THETA), Toronto General Hospital Research Institute, University Health Network, Toronto, Ontario.
⁴ Department of Immunology, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario.
⁵ Department of Epidemiology, Biostatistics and Occupational Health, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec.
⁶ Centre de Recherche du Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Montréal (CHUM), Montreal, Quebec.
⁷ Toronto Centre for Liver Disease, Toronto General Hospital, Toronto, Ontario.
⁸ Kirby Institute, UNSW Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
⁹ Soham and Shaila Ajmera Family Transplant Centre, University Health Network, Toronto, Ontario.
¹⁰ Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathobiology, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario.
¹¹ Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, McGill University Health Centre, Montreal, Quebec.
¹² co-corresponding authors.
¹³ Department of Biochemistry, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec.

Abstract

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) affects approximately 250,000 Canadians. Although safe and effective (>95% cure rates) antiviral therapies have become available within the past 5 years, chronic HCV infection still remains a major driver of end-stage liver disease and liver transplantation. Both the Canadian Institute for Health Research and the Public Health Agency of Canada recognize the impact of HCV-related liver diseases and support the Canadian Network for Hepatitis C (CanHepC), a National network for the scientific study of hepatitis C that organizes an annual symposium as part of its knowledge translation mandate. At the 8^th Canadian Symposium on Hepatitis C Virus in May 2019, basic scientists, clinicians, epidemiologists, social scientists, and community members came together to share their work under the theme of "Improving diagnosis and linkage to care". This symposium also marked the launch of the Blueprint to inform hepatitis C elimination efforts in Canada, a policy framework that outlines specific targets, suggested activities, and evidence-based best practices to guide provincial, territorial and federal organizations developing their own HCV elimination strategies.

Keywords: CanHepC; behavioural; biomedical; clinical; epidemiological; hepatitis C virus; people who inject drugs; public health; social sciences; viral hepatitis.

Grants and funding

CanHepC is funded by a joint initiative of the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR; NHC-142832), and the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC). In addition, CanHepC has received funding for the training program from AbbVie, Gilead, and Merck.