Burnet-Optima Hepatitis C virus (HCV) model

To view our peer-reviewed publication that describes the Burnet-Optima HCV model, please click here.

About 70 million individuals worldwide (2-3% of the world’s population) are chronically infected with hepatitis C virus (HCV).

Every year, approximately 499,000 deaths are attributed to HCV infection, mostly caused by liver cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma.

The advent of highly effective direct-acting antiviral therapies for the treatment of HCV means that elimination is now firmly on the agenda, with the World Health Organization recently announcing elimination targets including:

• A 65% reduction in HCV-related deaths by the year 2030; and
• An 80% reduction in HCV incidence by the year 2030.

What types of questions can Burnet-Optima HCV answer?

• How do we determine the most cost-effective scale-up of treatments among priority groups, through different modalities, and over different time-frames?
• How much will it cost to reach our targets?
• How can the cascade of care be optimized to maximize the number of people receiving curative treatment:
  • Where are the bottlenecks?
  • Which modalities of which programs are required (e.g. mobile clinics or nurse-led models of care)?
• Given the limited resources available, what is the best use of funding across the programs of prevention, testing and treatment to:
  • Minimize morbidity and mortality?
  • Minimize new infections?
  • Get as close as possible to multiple national targets?