EC Australia, a partnership co-ordinated by Burnet Institute focused on the elimination of Hepatitis C, welcomes the provision of AUD $1.25 million in funding from the Australian Government Department of Health.

The funding will support three different awareness campaigns as part of a broader partnership, the National Hepatitis C 50,000 Project, which aims to scale up testing and treatment.

The funds will boost paid advertising for the It’s Your Right campaign and will also support the codesign of Aboriginal specific creative and artwork for the rollout.

EC Australia will also work in partnership with the National Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation (NACCHO) to design and implement a hepatitis treatment campaign for Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisations.

The 50,000 Project is an innovative national partnership project to scale up testing and treatment to find 50,000 people living with hepatitis C by the end of 2022.

In doing so, the 50,000 Project will be central in Australia achieving the 2022 national hepatitis C targets for testing and treatment.

Background:

All Australians living with hepatitis C should be given the opportunity to live free from hepatitis C and to engage in our national elimination mission. Australia is ramping up its efforts to achieve its national hepatitis C testing and treatment targets.

Australians who have not yet been reached in our hepatitis C national response are geographically, socially, and demographically diverse and dispersed.

It is acknowledged that a business-as-usual hepatitis C response will not be sufficient to reach this broad cohort and our goals.

In November 2020, the Hon Greg Hunt MP, Federal Minister for Health, committed to finding 50,000 people living with hepatitis C by the end of 2022.

Mobilised around this shared commitment, a sector-led proposal was developed on how this could be achieved resulting in the establishment of the National Hepatitis C 50,000 Project with support from the Minister for Health, the Blood Borne Viruses and Sexually Transmissible Infections (BBVSTI) Standing Committee and the Australian Department of Health.

About the National Hepatitis C 50,000 Project:

Premised on health and geographic equity, the 50,000 Project seeks to concurrently scale up five pillars of activity in areas where concerted effort is needed and where treatment targets are at risk of being missed.

The Project is consistent with existing priorities for action in the National Hepatitis C Strategy and the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander BBV/STI Strategy.

The pillars are inter-related and mutually reinforcing. By implementing all activities concurrently, there is scope to amplify their reach, reinforce messages, and increase engagements and outcomes.

The activities leverage and scale up the existing service system, and local capabilities to enable engagement that is above and beyond ‘business-as-usual’.

The Project is funded by the Australian Government Department of Health.