BLOCK HIV/HCV

Approximately 25% of all individuals infected with HIV are coinfected with HCV.1 Of critical significance, HIV increases the rate of progression of HCV-related hepatic fibrosis, and HCV is associated with a 3-fold increase in HIV antiretroviral therapy-induced liver toxicity.2 Further, these synergistic diseases often occur in adverse socioeconomic conditions that significantly increase the vulnerability and decrease the overall health status of at-risk populations.3 Whereas HIV infection is now effectively manageable, chronic HCV infection is curable. Yet, despite new, highly effective direct-acting antiviral treatment regimens for HCV, their broad-scale use and associated therapeutic successes remain stymied by barriers at the patient, clinician, healthcare system, and jurisdictional levels.4 The BLOCK HIV/HCV initiative will provide community-based infectious disease specialists and other HIV treaters with foundational information and practical resources needed to prepare local stakeholders -- both clinical and nonclinical -- to collaborate in efforts to eliminate HCV within their communities.

References:
1. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. HIV/AIDS and Viral Hepatitis. https://www.cdc.gov/hepatitis/populations/hiv.htm. Accessed August 30, 2018.

2. Sulkowski MS, Benhamou Y. Therapeutic issues in HIV/HCV-coinfected patients. J Viral Hepat. 2007;14:371-386.

3. Singer M. Introduction to Syndemics: A Critical Systems Approach to Public and Community Health. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass; 2009.

4. National Viral Hepatitis Roundtable (NVHR). Hepatitis C: the State of Medicaid Access. October 23, 2017. https://stateofhepc.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/State-of-HepC_2017_FINAL.pdf. Accessed August 30, 2018.