The 50,000 Project is an innovative national partnership project to scale up testing and treatment to find 50,000 people living with hepatitis C by the end of 2022. In doing so, the 50,000 Project will be central in Australia achieving the 2022 national hepatitis C targets for testing and treatment.

Background:

All Australians living with hepatitis C should be given the opportunity to live free from hepatitis C and to engage in our national elimination mission.

Australia is ramping up its efforts to achieve its national hepatitis C testing and treatment targets. Australians who have not yet been reached in our hepatitis C national response are geographically, socially and demographically diverse and dispersed. It is acknowledged that a business-as-usual hepatitis C response will not be sufficient to reach this broad cohort and our goals.

In November 2020, the Hon Greg Hunt MP, Federal Minister for Health, committed to finding 50,000 people living with hepatitis C by the end of 2022. Mobilised around this shared commitment, a sector-led proposal was developed on how this could be achieved resulting in the establishment of the National Hepatitis C 50,000 Project with support from the Minister for Health, the Blood Borne Viruses and Sexually Transmissible Infections (BBVSTI) Standing Committee and the Australian Department of Health.

About the National Hepatitis C 50,000 Project:

Premised on health and geographic equity, the 50,000 Project seeks to concurrently scale up five pillars of activity in areas where concerted effort is needed and where treatment targets are at risk of being missed. The Project is consistent with existing priorities for action in the National Hepatitis C Strategy and the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander BBV/STI Strategy.  

The pillars are inter-related and mutually reinforcing. By implementing all activities concurrently, there is scope to amplify their reach, reinforce messages, and increase engagements and outcomes. The activities leverage and scale up the existing service system, and local capabilities to enable engagement that is above and beyond ‘business-as-usual’.

The 50,000 Project represents a genuinely new national initiative involving more than 250 potential partners. Many stakeholders are gathered and well-positioned to undertake and support these activities that centre affected communities; leverage new technologies, existing expertise, and established networks; and represent a deep commitment to improving the health and wellbeing of people impacted by hepatitis C.

The Project is funded by the Australian Government Department of Health.

Project Pillar	Implementing Partners
National hepatitis C public education campaigns	Hepatitis Australia The Burnet Institute in partnership with NACCHO and AIVL
National program to scale up hepatitis C point of care testing	The Kirby Institute in partnership with Flinders University and National Reference Laboratory
Expanded hepatitis activity in primary care including case finding	Australasian Society for HIV, Viral Hepatitis and Sexual Health Medicine (ASHM)
National Hepatitis C Infoline enhancement	Hepatitis Australia
Hepatitis C systems working group and project coordination and evaluation	Australian Department of Health & BBVSTI Standing Committee