Infectious - National Australian Hepatitis C POCT Program

The Kirby Institute at the University of NSW and the Flinders University International Centre for Point-of-Care Testing have been funded by the Commonwealth Department of Health to establish a National Australian HCV Point-of-Care Testing Program, consisting of a network of sites providing services to people at high risk of acquiring HCV infection.

The National Australian HCV Point-of-Care Testing Program will be the first internationally to implement scale-up of point-of-care HCV RNA testing on treatment uptake among people at risk of HCV in a range of different healthcare settings, providing critical information on this approach towards reducing HCV prevalence in Australia. The program will be sufficiently broad to enable engagement across all priority populations highlighted in state-based and national hepatitis strategies, including people who inject drugs and/or are accessing drug treatment programs, people who previously injected drugs, people in custodial settings and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.