Pilot program connects Vancouver immigrant communities with hepatitis C treatment

On the second floor of an immigrant settlement agency in Richmond, B.C., Gigi Lo delivered her first presentation on hepatitis C and HIV to a class of English as a Second Language students Wednesday.

The United Chinese Community Enrichment Services Society, or SUCCESS, sits in a new building near the Richmond Centre mall. That day, late spring sunshine poured into the classroom through its floor-to-ceiling windows.

More studies in Toronto and Quebec look at enhancing hepatitis C treatment for people who frequent supervised drug consumption sites.

Others look at how effective community-based screening programs are in First Nations in Saskatchewan and Quebec.

The WHO wants to eliminate hepatitis C as a public health threat by 2030 as part of its sustainable development goals. Its vision of doing that means reducing new infections by 90 per cent and mortality by 65 within the next 12 years.

Viral hepatitis is also a focus of the B.C. Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS, with the centre opening a new facility with facilities dedicated to hepatitis C research in 2017.

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