Global Timing of Hepatitis C Virus Elimination in High-income Countries

Note: Outputs in parentheses in the second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth and last columns reflect the best-case (lowest starting chronic prevalence) and worst-case (highest starting chronic prevalence) modelled outcomes.
Abbreviations: HCV, hepatitis C virus; WHO, World Health Organization; '–', elimination target was not met by 2050.
^aDue to high all-cause and liver-related mortality among the HCV-infected population, caused by an older population, the diagnosis and treatment targets were excluded while assessing the year of elimination;
^bDue to inclusion of HCV-infected immigrants as the primary source of prevalence, the incidence target was excluded while assessing the year of elimination.
^†Treatment target has already been achieved.
^‡Restrictions on treatment were lifted during 2017.
^§Epidemiological inputs of the model were based on regional data.

Abbreviation: N/r, not relevant to the elimination program.
^aCurrently diagnosed population in Iceland can be treated with the existing specialists.
^bMore than 90% of the HCV infections in Iceland are already diagnosed.
^cThe capacity of specialists in Japan can handle the existing HCV-infected population.
^dAn estimated 1.4% of all HCV infections in Spain are due to recent PWID.^16
eAn estimated 62–71% of the population was already diagnosed in Switzerland by 2015.^17
†Authors' assessment.
^‡Data for Scotland.
^§Data for England and Scotland.

Authors and Disclosures

Homie Razavi¹, Yuri Sanchez Gonzalez², Cammy Yuen³ and Markus Cornberg<sup>4

1</sup>Center for Disease Analysis, Lafayette, CO, United States
²AbbVie Inc., North Chicago, IL, United States
³AbbVie Ltd., Mascot, NSW, Australia
⁴Department of Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Endocrinology, Medizinische Hochschule Hannover, Hannover, Germany

Correspondence
Homie Razavi, Center for Disease Analysis, Lafayette, CO, USA. Email: homie.razavi@centerforda.com

Conflict of Interest
Homie Razavi is an employee of Center for Disease Analysis (CDA). CDA has received funding from AbbVie Inc for this project. CDA has also received research funding from AbbVie, Gilead, and Intercept. Yuri Sanchez Gonzalez is an employee of AbbVie Inc. and may own AbbVie stock or stock options. Cammy Yuen is an employee of AbbVie Ltd. Australia and may own AbbVie stock or stock options. Markus Cornberg is an employee of Medizinische Hochschule Hannover and is a consultant for AbbVie Inc. He is also a consultant/speaker for Gilead and MSD Sharp & Dohme.

Sidebar

Key points

Infection with hepatitis C virus is a major public health threat worldwide. This study examined the progress made in 45 high-income countries towards the goal of eliminating hepatitis C virus by 2030. It was found that only one in five of the countries was on track towards meeting this goal, and two out of three countries were not expected to achieve elimination before 2050.

Figure 2.