England reaches 100,000 hepatitis C treatments as elimination target moves within reach

England is on track to become one of the first countries to eliminate hepatitis C, beating the WHO's 2030 target. Since 2015, NHS England has treated over 100,000 patients, exceeding the WHO benchmark by treating over 80% of known cases. This milestone is driven by a landmark £1 billion drug procurement deal and aggressive outreach, including emergency department screening and free home-testing kits. While deaths have fallen by 36% over the last decade, health officials are urging high-risk groups to test to close the remaining diagnosis gap.

England hepatitis C elimination progress

• ▪Since 2015, NHS England has diagnosed and treated more than 100,000 people for hepatitis C.
• ▪England is on track to become one of the first countries in the world to eliminate hepatitis C as a public health threat.
• ▪An estimated 50,200 adults in England were living with hepatitis C in 2024.

NHS testing initiatives

• ▪Health officials have urged adults born in Ukraine, Romania, Estonia, Latvia, Poland, Albania, Lithuania, Bulgaria, Czechia, or Slovakia to test for hepatitis C due to potential pre-1991 medical or dental exposure.
• ▪NHS England has deployed mobile testing vans, prison screening programs, and peer-led support networks to find and treat marginalized or high-risk groups.
• ▪NHS England has utilized emergency department blood tests, GP registration testing, and free at-home test kits to identify undiagnosed hepatitis C cases.

Antiviral treatment effectiveness

• ▪Hepatitis C is a blood-borne virus that can cause serious, potentially life-threatening liver damage, liver failure, and cancer, though many infected individuals show no symptoms for years.
• ▪A treatment course of oral antiviral tablets taken for 8 to 12 weeks cures more than 95% of hepatitis C cases.

WHO 2030 elimination targets

• ▪Hepatitis C-related deaths in England have fallen by 36% over the last decade, approaching the World Health Organization target of a 65% reduction by 2030.
• ▪England has exceeded the World Health Organization benchmark of treating 80% of all known hepatitis C cases.
• ▪Estimates indicate that 84.6% of people living with hepatitis C in England have been diagnosed, just short of the World Health Organization's 90% target.

NHS pharmaceutical procurement strategy

• ▪The NHS population-level contract with pharmaceutical companies removed financial barriers to widespread hepatitis C treatment.
• ▪The NHS secured a landmark £1 billion commercial agreement with drug manufacturers to purchase unlimited supplies of curative hepatitis C drugs under a fixed-price contract.