The staggering potential for hep C elimination: A call for political will on World Hepatitis Day

Despite making early headway towards the 2030 hepatitis C elimination goal, recent progress has stalled in Australia. Dr Joss O’Loan, General Practitioner and Co-Founder of the Kombi Clinic, alongside Dr Paul Slade, Country Medical Director at Gilead Sciences, underscored the urgency of this year’s World Hepatitis Day (28 July) theme, It’s time for action.

“The time for talk is over, the time for action is now if we are to achieve the elimination goals by 2030,” Dr O’Loan emphasised.

“What really inspired us to get on the road was this so called theory of a ‘hard to reach patient’,” Dr O’Loan explained, reflecting on the gaps in care and health inequalities that prompted the launch of the Kombi Clinic in 2017, an outreach model designed to bridge these divides.

“It’s not the patient that’s hard to reach. It’s the health service that’s hard to reach. It’s the doctor that’s hard to get to…”

This year, the Sixth National Hepatitis C Strategy 2023-2030 is set for public release after significant consultation over the past two years. The key question remains: will it drive bold action to support the 2030 elimination deadline?

“We’ve reached a stage where the prospect of elimination is real,” Dr Slade stated. “The challenge for us now is that we’re in a steady state.”

“The ability to eliminate a viral disease is pretty staggering. It’s not something that has been done many times in our history,” Dr O’Loan noted. “We just really need the political desire to achieve the 2030 goal.”

The 2024-25 Federal Budget committed to new investment of $23.7m over two years for hepatitis B and hepatitis C initiatives. While this government commitment is welcomed, Dr O’Loan stressed that continued funding is required to “embed” diagnostic testing and innovative models of care “in standard practice, without the little sugar hits in terms of budgets.”

Highlighting the importance of industry collaborations with diverse stakeholders to support the 2030 elimination deadline, Dr Slade said “We have to take a holistic view to be part of the solution…and help people make informed decisions.”

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