Hepatitis B and C - Ways to promote and offer testing: guidance

Out of a total of 12,642 hepatitis C infections diagnosed in the UK in 2011, around nine in ten of these infections were acquired through injecting drugs. The report also found that one in six people who inject drugs were found to have been infected with the hepatitis B virus at some point in their lives.

Those at increased risk of infection with hepatitis B or C also include migrants from countries with high/medium prevalence of the disease, people who travel to countries where there is a high incidence of the disease, people who have heterosexual contact with someone who is infected, mother to child transmission and men who have sex with men.

People from some minority ethnic groups in the UK may also be at higher risk, with estimates suggesting that the rate of acute infection within the South Asian population in England and Wales is twice the estimated average, largely as a result of mother-to-child transmission that occurs outside the UK. Statistics also suggest a higher than average prevalence of hepatitis C among people in prison.

The guidance sets out how services, organisations and practitioners can promote testing and reach people at increased risk. The recommendations cover:

• Awareness-raising among:
  - the general population
  - people at increased risk of hepatitis B and C infection.
• Developing the knowledge and skills of healthcare professionals and others providing services for people at increased risk of hepatitis B or C infection.
• Testing:
  - in primary care
  - in prisons and youth offender institutions
  - in immigration removal centres
  - in drugs services
  - in genitourinary medicine and sexual health clinics.
• Contact tracing.
• Providing and auditing neonatal hepatitis B vaccination.
• Commissioning hepatitis B and C testing and treatment services
• Laboratory services for hepatitis B and C testing.

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