Unlocking the hepatitis C diagnostic and treatment market.
Challenges
Less than 5 percent of people with hepatitis C are diagnosed. The target set by the World Health Organization is for 90 percent to be diagnosed by 2030.
Current screening and diagnostic tools for hepatitis C are expensive and sub-optimal, particularly where patients also have HIV infection.
Solutions
This project works toward global HCV targets by:
- introducing new and simpler HCV diagnostics
- developing appropriate and cost-effective screening and testing algorithms (including those suited for HIV/HCV co-infected populations)
- devising cost-reduction strategies for testing.
Impact achieved
The grant demonstrated that people with hepatitis C can be diagnosed and treated using simplified models of care which would lower the overall cost of the diagnostic and treatment pathway. FIND also supported the development of a test (core antigen RDT) which has the potential to radically simplify the diagnostic algorithm thereby enabling greater reach of HCV testing. The grant also generated evidence on feasibility and acceptability of HCV self-testing in low- and middle-income countries, which underpinned the WHO’s recommendation for HCV self-testing.
The improved testing methods and platforms developed are estimated to lead to an additional 29,100 deaths averted by 2030 when scaled-up.
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