In March 2016, the Australian Government made available new, highly effective hepatitis C treatments to all adults with a Medicare Card. In the three years nine months that followed, over 47% of people with chronic hepatitis C were treated, compared with less than 2% per year before that.
Despite this, the uptake of hepatitis C treatment in rural and regional communities remains lower than the national average. In rural and regional South Australia, treatment rate is 52% compared to 60% in Adelaide.
LiverBetterLife Riverland Roadshow is a project that introduces new hepatitis C rapid testing technology to rural and regional communities, together with point of care referrals for treatment for those returning positive results.
Lessons learnt from this project will inform future work to improve access to testing and treatment for rural and regional communities.
LiverBetterLife Riverland Roadshow is an initiative managed by Hepatitis SA, funded by SA Health and supported by AbbVie.
