What the US Can Learn From Global HCV Elimination: John W. Ward, MD

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The US is actively working through partnerships with health organizations, policymakers, and clinicians to increase access to testing, treatment, and preventive resources for the hepatitis C virus (HCV).

Eliminating hepatitis C was a major talking point at IDWeek 2026, held October 21 to 24, 2026, in Washington, DC. Numerous experts discussed strategies and models to reduce transmission and hepatitis C infections, nationally and globally. The session titled “Global Elimination of Hepatitis C in 2026” addressed the numerous barriers individuals face trying to access care, as well as internal health system barriers to care and testing.

Countries that have made progress toward elimination share a common approach, John W. Ward, MD, director of the Coalition for Global Hepatitis Elimination at the Task Force for Global Health, said in an interview with The American Journal of Managed Care^®. They made a political commitment to elimination and built surveillance systems to understand the size of their burden and where it is most concentrated, he said.

“They’ve done the pilots to see what kind of prevention, diagnosis, and treatment works best in their health systems,” he said. “And then they put that into place, and then they invested the financing from their health budgets to put all of that into action at a scale to reach goals for hepatitis elimination.”

Despite the progress that still needs to be made, the US already has many of those innovations, including curative treatments that are cost-saving and reliable tests, such as point-of-care tests that allow people to learn their status and start treatment at the same time, Ward said. What is needed is the political commitment to scale up diagnosis and treatment. That effort is reflected in the Cure Hepatitis C Act, introduced in the Senate in June 2025, and its House companion bill, introduced in July 2026, which would create a national program to test for and treat hepatitis C.^1,2

But highlighting success alone would not accurately depict the current state of hepatitis care and prevention. Where the US is greatly behind other countries is prevention that stops new infections from happening, he said.

“We do a very bad job of providing clean injection equipment for people who inject drugs,” he explained, adding that the US also needs space at drug treatment programs to treat these individuals and to make diagnosis and treatment available within those programs.

Countries such as England, Spain, and Australia have shown that putting prevention, diagnosis, and treatment in place can virtually eliminate transmission among these high-risk populations, Ward said. “And the US needs to do the same.”

References

1. United States national hepatitis C elimination initiative. Coalition for Global Hepatitis Elimination. Accessed October 21, 2026. https://www.globalhep.org/advocacy/united-states-national-hepatitis-c-elimination-initiative

2. Congressman Johnson introduces historic bill to fight hepatitis C. News release. Office of Congressman Hank Johnson. July 15, 2026. Accessed October 21, 2026. https://hankjohnson.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/congressman-johnson-introduces-historic-bill-fight-hepatitis-c