Peer support for people living with hepatitis B virus-A foundation for treatment expansion.

Chronic hepatitis B infection (CHB) affects 300 million people worldwide and is being targeted by the United Nations 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the World Health Organisation (WHO), working towards elimination of hepatitis B virus (HBV) as a public health threat. In this piece, we explore the evidence and potential impact of peer support to enhance and promote interventions for people living with CHB. Peer support workers (PSWs) are those with lived experience of an infection, condition or situation who work to provide support for others, aiming to improve education, prevention, treatment and other clinical interventions and to reduce the physical, psychological and social impacts of disease. Peer support has been shown to be a valuable tool for improving health outcomes for people living with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and hepatitis C virus (HCV), but to date has not been widely available for communities affected by HBV. HBV disproportionately affects vulnerable and marginalised populations, who could benefit from PSWs to help them navigate complicated systems and provide advocacy, tackle stigma, improve education and representation, and optimise access to treatment and continuity of care. The scale up of peer support must provide structured and supportive career pathways for PSWs, account for social and cultural needs of different communities, adapt to differing healthcare systems and provide flexibility in approaches to care. Investment in peer support for people living with CHB could increase diagnosis, improve retention in care, and support design and roll out of interventions that can contribute to global elimination goals.

Results of a Model of Delivering Hepatitis C Care in a Homeless Metropolitan Population in England.

INTRODUCTION: Given the hepatitis C virus (HCV) burden and despite curative treatments, more efforts focused on scaling-up testing and treatment in homeless populations are needed. This project aimed to implement education and flexible on-site HCV testing, treatment, and follow-up for a homeless population in south London and to evaluate engagement, therapy initiation, and cure rates. METHODS: A mobile unit (van) for on-site HCV education, screening, treatment, and follow-up was placed on the street in a well-known homeless population areas from January 2018 to September 2021. Homeless was defined as living in temporary housing (hostel/hotel-based) or living on the street (street-based). Sociodemographic status, risk factors, comorbidities, concomitant medication, and data related with HCV treatment were recorded. Univariable and multivariable modeling were performed for treatment initiation and sustained virological response (SVR). RESULTS: Nine hundred forty homeless people were identified and 99.3% participated. 56.2% were street-based, 243 (26%) tested positive for HCV antibody, and 162 (17.4%) were viremic. Those with detectable HCV RNA had significantly more frequent psychiatric disorders, active substance use disorders, were on opioid agonist treatment, had advanced fibrosis, and had lower rates of previous treatment in comparison with undetectable HCV RNA. Overall treatment initiation was 70.4% and SVR was 72.8%. In the multivariable analysis, being screened in temporary housing (odds ratio [OR] 3.166; P = 0.002) and having opioid agonist treatment (OR 3.137; P = 0.004) were positively associated with treatment initiation. HCV treatment adherence (OR 26.552; P < 0.001) was the only factor associated with achieving SVR. DISCUSSION: Promoting education and having flexible and reflex mobile on-site testing and treatment for HCV in the homeless population improve engagement with the health care system, meaning higher rates of treatment initiation and SVR. However, street-based homeless population not linked with harm reduction services are less likely to initiate HCV treatment, highlighting an urgent need for a broad health inclusion system.

Role of peer support in a hepatitis C elimination programme.

Many people with chronic hepatitis C infection don't engage in treatment. To eliminate hepatitis C and avoid health inequalities therapy must be provided to everyone. In other diseases peers with lived experience of the condition have improved care but, for hepatitis C, studies have not shown unequivocal benefit. We completed a retrospective analysis of the English National Health Service treatment registry comparing treatment networks with and without peers using Bayesian Poisson (for count outcomes) or Bayesian Binomial (for proportion outcomes) mixed effects models with time fixed effects. For each outcome, we estimated relative ratio (RR-Poisson model) or odds ratio (Odds Ratio (OR)-Binomial model) between peer and non-peer networks. We analysed 30,729 patients within 20 operational delivery networks. In networks with peers there was an increase in the number of people initiating therapy (RR 1.12 95%, credible interval 1.02-1.21) and an increase in the proportion completing therapy (OR 2.45 95%, credible interval 1.49-3.84). However, we saw no change in proportions of people using drugs who initiated therapy nor any significant change in virological response (OR 1.14 95% credible interval 0.979-1.36). We repeated the analysis looking at the impact of peers two months after they had been introduced, when they had established networks of contacts, and saw an increase in the proportion of people treated in addiction services. In treating patients with chronic hepatitis C infection the inclusion of peer supporters may increase the number of people who initiate and complete antiviral therapy.

Harm reduction and viral hepatitis C in European prisons: a cross-sectional survey of 25 countries.

BACKGROUND: Current estimates suggest that 15% of all prisoners worldwide are chronically infected with the hepatitis C virus (HCV), and this number is even higher in regions with high rates of injecting drug use. Although harm reduction services such as opioid substitution therapy (OST) and needle and syringe programs (NSPs) are effective in preventing the further spread of HCV and HIV, the extent to which these are available in prisons varies significantly across countries. METHODS: The Hep-CORE study surveyed liver patient groups from 25 European countries in 2016 and mid-2017 on national policies related to harm reduction, testing/screening, and treatment for HCV in prison settings. Results from the cross-sectional survey were compared to the data from available reports and the peer-reviewed literature to determine the overall degree to which European countries implement evidence-based HCV recommendations in prison settings. RESULTS: Patient groups in nine countries (36%) identified prisoners as a high-risk population target for HCV testing/screening. Twenty-one countries (84%) provide HCV treatment in prisons. However, the extent of coverage of these treatment programs varies widely. Two countries (8%) have NSPs officially available in prisons in all parts of the country. Eleven countries (44%) provide OST in prisons in all parts of the country without additional requirements. CONCLUSION: Despite the existence of evidence-based recommendations, infectious disease prevention measures such as harm reduction programs are inadequate in European prison settings. Harm reduction, HCV testing/screening, and treatment should be scaled up in prison settings in order to progress towards eliminating HCV as a public health threat.

Co-creating and implementing a novel pre-conference event to promote equity and inclusivity among academic researchers and people who use drugs.

This commentary draws on our experience organising a targeted networking event at the 10th International Conference on Health and Hepatitis in Substance Users, in Glasgow, Scotland in October 2022. The event, held the day before the conference, brought together people with lived and living experiences of drug use and early- and mid-career researchers on an equitable basis. We offer reflections, focussing on how the event promoted community-academic engagement from members of the respective groups. We provide recommendations for how conferences can organise to engage with people who use drugs-both those with lived and living experience and foster greater inclusion for all attendees.

Chronic hepatitis C elimination prison initiative: HCV-intensive test and treat, a whole prisoner population HCV test-and-treat program in England.

Background and Aim: Prison residents are at high risk for hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection. HCV test-and-treat initiatives within prisons provide an opportunity to engage with prison residents and achieve HCV micro-elimination. The aim of the prison HCV-intensive test and treat initiative was to screen over 95% of all prison residents for HCV infection within a defined number of days determined by the size of the prison population and to initiate treatment within 7-14 days of a positive HCV RNA diagnosis. Methods: An HCV-intensive test and treat toolkit was developed based on learnings from pilot HCV-intensive test and treat events. From January 2020 to September 2021, 13 HCV-intensive test and treat events took place at prisons in England selected based on high levels of reception blood-borne virus testing and good access to peers from The Hepatitis C Trust. Results: Among a total of 8487 residents, 8139 (95.9%) underwent testing for HCV. Across the 13 prisons included, HCV antibody and RNA prevalence was 8.2% and 1.5%, respectively. The treatment initiation rate among HCV RNA-positive individuals (n = 124) was 79.0%. Conclusion: The HCV-intensive test and treat initiative presented here provides a feasible and rapid test-and-treat process to achieve HCV elimination within individual prisons. The HCV-intensive test and treat toolkit can be adapted for rapid HCV testing and treatment events at other prisons in the United Kingdom and worldwide.

Strategic treatment optimization for HCV (STOPHCV1): a randomised controlled trial of ultrashort duration therapy for chronic hepatitis C.

Background: The world health organization (WHO) has identified the need for a better understanding of which patients with hepatitis C virus (HCV) can be cured with ultrashort course HCV therapy. Methods: A total of 202 individuals with chronic HCV were randomised to fixed-duration shortened therapy (8 weeks) vs variable-duration ultrashort strategies (VUS1/2). Participants not cured following first-line treatment were retreated with 12 weeks' sofosbuvir/ledipasvir/ribavirin. The primary outcome was sustained virological response 12 weeks (SVR12) after first-line treatment and retreatment. Participants were factorially randomised to receive ribavirin with first-line treatment. Results: All evaluable participants achieved SVR12 overall (197/197, 100% [95% CI 98-100]) demonstrating non-inferiority between fixed-duration and variable-duration strategies (difference 0% [95% CI -3.8%, +3.7%], 4% pre-specified non-inferiority margin). First-line SVR12 was 91% [86%-97%] (92/101) for fixed-duration vs 48% [39%-57%] (47/98) for variable-duration, but was significantly higher for VUS2 (72% [56%-87%] (23/32)) than VUS1 (36% [25%-48%] (24/66)). Overall, first-line SVR12 was 72% [65%-78%] (70/101) without ribavirin and 68% [61%-76%] (69/98) with ribavirin (p=0.48). At treatment failure, the emergence of viral resistance was lower with ribavirin (12% [2%-30%] (3/26)) than without (38% [21%-58%] (11/29), p=0.01). Conclusions: Unsuccessful first-line short-course therapy did not compromise retreatment with sofosbuvir/ledipasvir/ribavirin (100% SVR12). SVR12 rates were significantly increased when ultrashort treatment varied between 4-7 weeks rather than 4-6 weeks. Ribavirin significantly reduced resistance emergence in those failing first-line therapy. ISRCTN Registration: 37915093 (11/04/2016).