Moving forward with a Blueprint to inform HCV Elimination Efforts in Canada 

Aim & development process
CanHepC is leading a joint effort towards the development of a blueprint to inform HCV elimination efforts in Canada. The aim of this document is to provide guidance on how to address HCV with specific and measurable objectives that are relevant to the Canadian context. Since announcing our commitment to lead this effort in February, a Blueprint Writing Committee uniting expertise within the CanHepC network and beyond has been put together under the Chairmanship of Dr Jordan Feld. Three working groups were formed to provide specific input regarding what is needed in terms of prevention, testing & diagnosis, initiation of care & treatment. A fourth group is responsible to provide cross cutting recommendations and key principle targets from a priority population lens.

Information webinars held in May 2018
In May 2018, CanHepC hosted two webinars (in French and English) aiming to engage and broadly inform people working in hepatitis C of the rationale, development process and overall goal of this blueprint. Both webinars were well attended (90 people in total) and the process received positive feedback.

HCV Elimination Blueprint National Stakeholder workshop in June 2018
As a next step, the Blueprint Writing Committee organised a national stakeholder workshop to present the draft sections from the working groups on June 13th prior to the Global Hepatitis Summit (GHS) in Toronto. The morning session aimed to get input on the blueprint process and the draft sections, and was attended by over 50 people from various background related to the hepatitis C field. The Blueprint Writing Committee then reconvened in the afternoon to discuss feedback and recommendation received from the audience and work on the draft sections. The draft sections of the blueprint were also presented in a dedicated public health session at the GHS on June 15th with international panel discussants including Sharon Hutchison, Manal El-Sayed, John Ward and Greg Dore. 

Next steps
The Writing Committee is currently revising the four draft sections that will serve as the backbone of the Blueprint based on the feedback received in June. We are expecting a first consolidated draft in September which will be internally reviewed before it undergoes an extensive regional and national consultation process in the fall.

For more information please refer to the Blueprint page.