Point of Care Policy for Eliminating Hepatitis C, its Applicability and Acceptability.

Abstract

Chronic infection with hepatitis C virus (HCV), can now be safely treated with oral, well-tolerated medications with >90% success rates, however, currently <5% of the infected individuals have been diagnosed and <1% have received treatment. This is believed to be due to the complicated, time-consuming and expensive disease management processes that require several referrals to specialized laboratories and hospital-based clinics, and also the epidemic of HCV infection among populations who have low uptake for evaluation, appointments, and treatment. Point of care (POC) policy emphasizes on delivering healthcare tests and services to patients at or near the place and time of patient care. A reasonable design for POC policy should contain all parts of the HCV management continuum including screening, diagnosis of viremia, genotyping, cirrhosis evaluation and treatment. Furthermore, successful implementation of this policy requires acceptability from the perspectives of healthcare providers, target populations, and policymakers. In this letter, we discuss the current applicability, acceptability, and cost-effectiveness of POC policy for the management of HCV infection.