Journeys to Wellness: Prairie Hepatitis C Roadmap
The time to change the hepatitis C landscape in the Prairies is now!
Indigenous people, immigrants and newcomers from countries with higher rates of hep C are disproportionately affected by hep C and continue to face barriers to accessing essential care and support. The Waniska Centre is the spearheading organization behind the Journeys to Wellness: Prairie Hepatitis C Roadmap.
The roadmap outlines key recommendations and possible actions that can be used by policy and program makers in developing a hepatitis C elimination plan. It outlines a regional and Indigenous high-level framework to guide implementation, including a method for tracking progress on elimination efforts through 2030.
Resources
Background
Each participant in the sharing circle painted a rock to connect with their creativity and make a visual contribution.
In 2019, CanHepC released the Blueprint to Inform hepatitis C elimination efforts in Canada to provide evidence-based guidance supporting Canada to achieve the World Health Organization’s (WHO) hep C elimination targets by 2030. Seven CanHepC roadmaps are being developed by key provincial and territorial (and national Indigenous) stakeholders in leadership roles in the hepatitis C response. The teams leading each roadmap include stakeholders who contributed to the national blueprint development effort, in addition to key provincial-level programming leaders and decision makers.
Journeys to Wellness: A Prairie Hepatitis C Roadmap
Recognizing that health care in Canada is under provincial and territorial jurisdiction, Journeys to Wellness: A Prairie Hepatitis C Roadmap was supported between 2022 and 2024 to achieve the following:
- Assess the context and landscape of hep C prevention, diagnosis and treatment including gaps and progress
- Identify specific barriers and enablers to hep C care and suppression
- Gain consensus on specific priorities to address hep C wellness in the Prairies
While curing hep C is achievable with highly effective oral treatments, this report emphasizes that until the social, economic and personal wellness factors are considered, any plan narrowly focused on medical treatment will (and consistently does) fail.
Hep C Elimination Efforts in the Prairies
Despite notable advancements in the Prairie provinces, Journey to Wellness: Prairie Hepatitis C Roadmap provides a summary of what is working, what is not working and identifies opportunities for change across Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba to address hep C.
Alberta
There has been significant progress towards hep C elimination in Alberta. The reported hep C rate in 2021 stood at 14.7 cases per 100,000 population, notably lower than the national rate of 19.7 cases per 100,000 population. For the Alberta summary, click here.
Saskatchewan
Saskatchewan continues to contend with high rates of hep C, with a reported rate of 38.3 cases per 100,000 population, which is almost double the national rate. The 20% reduction in new cases between 2015 and 2019 fell short of the 30% target reduction. For the Saskatchewan summary, click here.
Manitoba
Manitoba continues to grapple with the highest rates of hep C in the country, with a reported rate of 42.3 cases per 100,000 population in 2021, exceeding the national rate of 19.7 cases per 100,000 population. The new cases reported between 2015 and 2019 increased by 85%, which fell significantly below the targeted reduction of 30% by 2020. For the Manitoba summary, click here.
Stories and Community
How we talk about this needs to change. Stigma is there because of how we talk about it. We got to frame it like just another health condition that can be treated. Frame it as health messages, wellness messages. Not stressful, not shameful, not dirty. Frame it in a relaxing way; light, hopeful.
After treatment, it was like I had a new body.
We need to educate health professionals early. It’s going to be years to get there. We need to have patience. Talk about the stigma. Get out of the silos. Talk about addictions and the intergenerational trauma. It’s all connected.
There’s a lot of racism. I hate to say it but there is. Some doctors weren’t really on board with the program. They’d say: ‘It’s so sad people still get hep C when it’s totally preventable’. Doctors don’t always understand that life isn’t as simple for everyone…
An emphasis needs to occur on displacing old language and replacing it with new language that is healing… throughout the entire system and circles of care. We need new ways of talking about this. What if we change the language to liver health, clear blood/clear body and get rid of words like testing and elimination?
They should test for anything and everything in school; I got [hep C] when I was really little.
The Roadmap Co-chairs
Dr. Alexandra King and Carrielynn Lund, the Community Guiding Circle and the project team made a commitment to this work, with an intent to serve the people living with or who have lived with hep C.
Dr. Alexandra King, Project Co-chair (SK)
We are at a critical moment for hep C. We have a fantastic cure for this virus that can cause both liver disease and cancer. And yet, many who need this cure the most are not able to access it. Instead, they face many of the same barriers that prevent them from accessing health care. We can and must do health care differently, so it works for everyone. This roadmap is intended to help galvanize our response and to pull all the key stakeholders together so we can better serve those living with hep C.
Carrielynn Lund, Project Co-chair (AB)
A heartfelt thanks to the members of our advisory group who provided invaluable guidance during this whole process, and to the local organizations and service providers who provided space, helped to coordinate the circles and invited people to participate. I would like to acknowledge the work of the TB Consulting team and members of our Pewaseskwan team who did an outstanding job of planning, implementing, interviewing and pulling everything together into this report. Lastly but most definitely not the least, I would like to thank my co-chair Alexandra King, who generously shared her wisdom, experience, passion and commitment for this important work.
