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Modeling HCV Elimination Recovery Following the COVID-19 Pandemic in the United States: Pathways to Regain Progress

Sarah Blach, Kimberly A. Brown, Robert S. Brown, Pierre M. Gholam, Norah A. Terrault, Chris Estes, Homie A. Razavi


Summary

As of 2019, the United States (US) was not on track to achieve targets for elimination, due to increasing incidence and treatment barriers. In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted HCV services globally and in the US. As healthcare services normalize, there is an urgent need to reassess progress and evaluate scenarios that restore a pathway toward HCV elimination. We updated a validated Markov model to estimate HCV-related morbidity and mortality in the US. Five scenarios were developed to bookend possible HCV outcomes in the wake of the pandemic. These included 1) return to pre-COVID-19 treatment forecasts; 2) achieve elimination targets through treatment and harm reduction; 3) long-term treatment disruptions; 4/5) achieve elimination targets through increased treatment without increased harm reduction, starting in either 2022 or 2025.

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