The Outaouais Drug Addiction Intervention and Prevention Center receives grant to combat Hepatitis C
The Outaouais Drug Addiction Intervention and Prevention Center receives grant to combat Hepatitis C
An Outaouais organization has received a grant that will allow the it to intervene with individuals with Hepatitis C, mainly in the prison environment and among the homeless. The Outaouais Drug Addiction Intervention and Prevention Center (CIPTO), located in Gatineau, received the funding from Gilead Sciences, an international biopharmaceutical company that focuses on the development and commercialization of medications.
The CIPTO is an independent community organization guided by a risk and harm reduction approach, which offers support services to people using psychoactive substances for the entire population. This year’s programs include screening and medical treatment for priority populations, namely drug and injection drug users and people with experience of incarceration in the federal or provincial system.
« Often the problem is that people with Hepatitis C don’t know. We therefore have a great deal of work to test them, educate them and give them access to medicines,», said Charles Boisvert, the head of the Hepatitis C Treatment Support Program at CIPTO.
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Established in 2017, the grant program is part of Gilead Canada’s commitment to the World Health Organization (WHO)’s goal of eliminating chronic Hepatitis C by 2030.
« This refinancing allows us to maintain and expand our functions to new horizons. We can expand our partnerships with organizations, institutions, but also with treating physicians in the Outaouais,», Boisvert said
An estimated 250,000 Canadians have chronic Hepatitis C, with more than 37,000 of those in Quebec. Approximately 44% of these cases don’t know they’re infected. In 2016, Canada signed up to the WHO Global Strategy on Viral Hepatitis, committing to eliminate viral Hepatitis as a public health threat by 2030.
The full interview with the CIPTO’s Charles Boisvert is available here.
