How Things have Changed, and Haven't

Whether you are a person with lived experience or someone who has worked in the sector that has provided support, access to care and treatment; a researcher in the field, you will have witnessed some things have remained static while so many other things have changed dramatically. Hep C treatment has changed dramatically, and that is well documented and observed by those of us who have experience with the old version of treatment. Many of my friends and Peers had experience with a list of treatment versions and were finally cured in the era of hep C treatment with Direct Acting Antiviral drugs (DAA). A smaller group, including myself were cured (reached SVR) with the old regimens that included interferon. Successful treatment was possible in around 40%, but it was a long 25-48 weeks of extreme side effects that too often were so bad that people were forced to stop. Somehow, I was able to finish 48 weeks, but like so many of my peers, it was the worst experience ever.

Newer treatment options appear

Fast forward 5-6 years after my own treatment, and newer and much more effective treatments appeared on the scene. The side effects were minimal and treatment was shortened dramatically and we saw the end of interferon injections and the horrid effects that caused great suffering for most people who were brave enough to try.

These new Direct Acting antivirals (DAA) drugs changed everything and opened the door to safer and incredible cure rates north of 95%. This change in how we treat hep C has been a game changer for all of us who work in the community to raise awareness about testing and access to care and treatment.

Not all changes were positive

Sadly, not all is changed in the most positive ways. Stigma still exist even though we have seen some improvements. Generally, in my own observations, understanding and better education has improved stigma in healthcare settings, but there remains room for improvement. Who’s job is it to change attitudes? Has it fallen to each individual, or is it the role of healthcare systems and HCP?
Both, and public health agencies? All of us have a role to play if we want to do more and better.
All people deserve the same respect and dignity regardless of where and how we live, our earnings, including our current or past substance use or housing status. Some of us need greater supports, and as a society and community we need to embrace equity as foundational and as our foremost guiding principle. If we don’t take this on as being at the center of our collective work, we will fail people in our communities both local and globally.

This just one area we can point to as still needing attention, and we can all play a part, and that starts by each of us taking stock of our own bias, and spending time in discussion with our peers, to address how each of us can do better.