Ontario is charting the path to eliminate hepatitis C by 2030
Hepatitis C elimination is within reach and would be an historic public health achievement.
The Ontario Hepatitis C Elimination Roadmap is a guiding policy and practice document. It outlines how Ontario can take action to:
- Advance prevention strategies, including among those at highest risk
- Increase the number of people tested for and diagnosed with hepatitis C
- Expand treatment options for easier access
Hepatitis C is among the most burdensome infectious diseases in Ontario. However, highly effective curative treatment, widespread testing and proven prevention strategies put elimination within reach.
An estimated 110,000 people are living with hepatitis C in Ontario
44% of people living with hepatitis C are unaware that they have the disease
A highly effective cure is publicly covered for almost all Ontarians
We’re delivering Ontario’s Roadmap with your help
More than 110,00 Ontarians are living with hepatitis C, which is one of the leading causes of death and illness from an infectious disease in Canada. We are working closely with people with lived experience, priority populations, researchers, healthcare workers, policy-makers, and community workers, connecting front-line and system-level expertise in hepatitis C.
By 2030, Ontario aims to:
Reduce new infections by 80%
Diagnose 90% of people living with hepatitis C
Begin treatment for 80% of people living with hepatitis C
From a national blueprint to an Ontario Roadmap
Canada has committed to achieving World Health Organization targets for eliminating viral hepatitis as a public health threat by 2030. In 2019, the Canadian Network on Hepatitis C took the first step by creating a national Blueprint to Inform Hepatitis C Elimination Efforts in Canada, setting out bold targets to eliminate hepatitis C and paved the way for Ontario’s Roadmap.
To meet these targets, the Ontario’s hepatitis C elimination effort is driving a collaborative, multi-sector initiative to:
- Enable policy and health system change
- Advance high-impact strategies to put Ontario on the road to elimination
- Apply a health equity and population health approach to meet the needs of priority populations experiencing the greatest burden of hepatitis C
Hepatitis C elimination can only be realized through a population health and health equity approach
Ontario’s plan to eliminate hepatitis C priority population lens, focusing on those most at risk for hepatitis C:
- People who use drugs
- First Nations, Inuit and Métis
- People with experience in the prison system
- Immigrants and newcomers from countries where hepatitis C is common
- Gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men
Our team
Providing leadership to this collaborative, multi-sector initiative are Bernadette Lettner, RN, Lead, Clinical Training, Guidance and Monitoring, and Kate Palbom, Lead, Engagement and Secretariat. These two positions are funded by the Ontario Ministry of Health. Their work is supported and guided by a Core Implementation Team:
Dr. Mia Biondi, PhD, NP-PHC, Director of Implementation, Viral Hepatitis Care Network
Melisa Dickie, Director, Hepatitis C and Harm Reduction Knowledge Mobilization, CATIE
Dr. Jordan Feld, Director, Toronto Centre for Liver Disease, University Health Network, Professor of Medicine, University of Toronto
Heidi Hay, Advisor, Wellesley Group
Christopher Hoy, Associate Director, Ontario Hepatitis C and Harm Reduction Programming, CATIE
Roadmap Development Advisory Committee
A multi-stakeholder advisory committee contributed to the development of the Ontario Hepatitis C Elimination Roadmap. They reflect a diverse range of community, clinical and research organizations and networks, and ex-officio members of Ontario. The document Roadmap document launched in 2023. Represented organizations include:
- Action Hepatitis Canada
- Alliance for Healthier Communities
- Association of Family Health Teams of Ontario
- Canadian Association of Hepatology Nurses
- Canadian Association of People Who Use Drugs
- CATIE
- Crossroads Refugee Health Clinic (Women’s College Hospital)
- Elevate NWO
- HIV Legal Network
- Indigenous Primary Health Care Council
- Métis Nation of Ontario
- Niagara Health Hepatitis C Care Clinic
- Nurse Practitioner Association of Ontario
- PASAN
- Oahas
- Ontario Hepatitis C Teams Network
- Pauktuutit Inuit Women of Canada
- Sanguen Health Centre
- Southwest Ontario Aboriginal Health Access Centre
- South Riverdale Community Health Centre
- Toronto Centre for Liver Disease (University Health Network)
- Toronto Community Hepatitis C Program
- Ontario Ministry of Health (ex-officio)
- Public Health Ontario (ex-officio)
- Public Health Agency of Canada (ex-officio)