Community reports and briefings

Report: 1st Hepatitis C Virus World CAB

This report is from the First Hepatitis C virus (HCV) World Community Advisory Board (CAB), held in Bangkok, Thailand, 22-25 February 2014.

The HCV World CAB included a broad range of 38 activists from 22 countires, including people with HCV, people who inject drugs, HIV positive people, representatives from non-governmental organisations and regional and global advocacy networks, and clinicians and researchers.

This was the first global meeting focused on HCV treatment access in low- and middle-income countires (LMIC) with pharmaceutical companies that produce HCV treatment.

The meeting was organised by Treatment Action Group and the Asia Pacific Network of People Living with HIV/AIDS. The HCV World CAB was supported by AIDS Fonds, the Global Network of People Living with HIV, Médecins du Monde, Open Society Foundations, and the World Health Organisation.

RITA on HCV/HIV coinfection: What HIV clinicians should know (and do) about HCV coinfection

This issue of Research Initiative, Treatment Action (RITA) examines how direct-acting antivirals (DAAs) have already transformed treatment of HCV infection and considers how they may continue to do so. An interview with Douglas Dieterich offers nuts-and-bolts advice on prescribing DAAs for people with coinfection and encourages more involvement by HIV clinicians in HCV management.

A second review article dissects the most controversial question about HCV/HIV coinfection: does HCV make HIV infection worse? Scores of studies addressing different aspects of this question are almost evenly split in their conclusions.

A final review analyses sexual HCV transmission among gay and bisexual men. Early research rated sexual HCV transmission a rare event. But that thinking – still echoed in some online US CDC material -stands starkly at odds with an explosive HCV epidemic documented in gay and bisexual people who do not inject drugs.

Migrant access to the NHS: implications of proposed changes

A briefing paper (March 2014) from the African Health Policy Network (AHPN) looks at the implications of the proposed NHS changes and whether this is justified by current evidence.

For example, redefining the eligibility criteria of “ordinary resident” to mean “indefinite leave to remain” unfairly targets many long-term migrants who work, study and pay taxes that contribute to the running of NHS services as well as other public services.