Hepatitis C virus elimination: laying the foundation for achieving 2030 targets

The World Health Organization’s targets for hepatitis C elimination by 2030 are ambitious, but, in 2020, global leadership demonstrated by Egypt, innovative strategies to improve linkage to treatment for marginalized populations and the broadened capacity of direct-acting antiviral therapy have been promising for enhanced global elimination efforts.Key advancesA massive national hepatitis C screening and treatment programme in Egypt has demonstrated the feasibility of major progress towards elimination in a high-prevalence lower–middle income country setting6.A cluster-randomized trial in Scottish pharmacies found higher linkage to treatment for people on opiate agonist therapy using a pharmacist-led model of care compared with a conventional model of care7.An ultra-short (7 day) antiviral regimen was highly effective (100%) for prevention of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection in HCV-uninfected recipients of solid organ transplants from donors with HCV infection9.