HepatitisWA – A Long Journey

WANADA recently met with HepatitisWA program manager Matthew Armstrong to discuss the organisation’s vision, progress and goals.

A dedicated volunteer turned staff member, Matthew has been involved with HepatitisWA for over a decade – witnessing significant progress in hepatitis awareness, treatment, and prevention.

Before the introduction of direct-acting antivirals (DAAs) in the mid-2010s, preventing and treating Hepatitis C Virus (HCV) as a chronic illness was a major focus.

Since the development of this pivotal medication that can cure most people with a HCV infection over a short treatment duration, people’s lives have been changed forever.

“After its introduction, we suddenly had this flood of people with their finger on the pulse that wanted to get treated,” Matthew said.

“In the first 18 months we had the same amount of people showing up as we had in 18 years prior to that, about forty-five thousand people coming out of the woodwork.”

As a result, HepatitisWA began to prioritise treatment services and prevention instead of strategies in managing the illness.

“There was this evolution,” Matthew said.

“Nowadays we’re less about lifestyle, and more about the bigger picture of making this treatment thing happen, removing barriers for accessing the treatment and improving testing.”

With Australia positioned as a global leader to reach HCV elimination targets by 2030, Matthew stressed the need for continued action to realise that goal.

“It’s more important than ever to remain focused,” he said.

“The idea that we can just exclusively treat our way out of it won’t work – if we’re going to get on top of this, we must tackle it from both sides.”

“You have to address the social determinants, there’s never been a more important time to ramp up prevention, education and testing.”

Matthew will be a featured speaker at the upcoming HCV Online Information Session on August 7.