Abstract
Throughout the past decade, HCV treatment has been transformed by all-oral direct-acting antiviral (DAA) therapies. Whereas cure rates using previous 24–48-week treatment regimens including interferon were typically <50%, particularly for people with HIV (PHIV),1 modern treatment with DAAs cures >95% of HCV infections in 8–12 weeks.2 Prompted by the introduction of DAA therapies for HCV, in 2016 the World Health Organization (WHO) set ambitious targets to eliminate HCV as a public health threat which included reducing HCV incidence by 80% and HCV-related mortality by 65% by 20303: a major undertaking, given the estimated 59 million people infected in 2020.4 New targets to guide validating HCV elimination were added in 2021, specifying that countries should aim for an annual HCV incidence of ≤5 per 100 000 persons in the general population and ≤2 per 100 people who inject drugs.3 The absolute HCV-related annual mortality rate target is ≤2 per 100 000 persons.3