• HEPATITIS C

In May 2016, the World Health Assembly, the governing body of WHO, endorsed the first-ever global hepatitis strategy.1 This document, termed the Global Health Sector Strategy on Viral Hepatitis (GHSS-VH), proposes ambitious prevention and treatment targets with the ultimate goal of eliminating hepatitis as a public health threat by 2030. The GHSS-VH defines elimination as a 90% reduction in incidence of chronic HBV and HCV infections and a 65% reduction in hepatitis-related mortality. Achieving the goals of the global strategy will require scaling up prevention and treatment services, which in turn will require increases in financial resources and political commitment. In addition, national health planners will need to decide how best to allocate these resources so that they have maximal impact. A solid understanding of the epidemiology of hepatitis infection in the country, in particular identifying groups at highest risk of infection and those at highest risk of death should be the basis of a sound national treatment plan that can meet the incidence and mortality goals of GHSS-VH.

In this issue, Scott et al2 developed a mathematical model to study which treatment strategies would most effectively and efficiently eliminate hepatitis C in Australia, based on the WHO strategy's goals. As in most high-income countries, HCV infection …