Thursday, November 21, 2024
11/21/2024
Indiana, like many other states, recognizes the remarkable burden caused by viral hepatitis. For the past five years incident rates of acute hepatitis C have been climbing, ranking the state first in the country in 2018 (Indiana 4.0; US 1.2 cases per 100,000 population)1. While acute hepatitis B has remained steady since 2017, rates were still 2.5 times over the national average (Indiana 2.5; US 1.0 cases per 100,000 population)1. The primary risk factors for transmission for both hepatitis B and C are related to non-injection/injection drug use and incarceration. The Indiana Department of Health Viral Hepatitis Program seeks to progress towards the elimination of hepatitis B and C in Indiana by collecting, housing, managing and disseminating data that will drive not only new policies, but provide information that can be used for targeted prevention and treatment services. Monitoring data, conquering stigma, and increasing utilization of testing and linkage to care among affected racial and ethnic groups, pregnant women/babies born to mothers infected with hepatitis C and people who inject drugs is critical. Staff is being added to the program team whose job will be to continuously monitor and inform elimination efforts among these vulnerable populations. Achieving the goal of hepatitis elimination will require several key activities including outbreak detection and response, more surveillance, and enhanced reporting. This funding opportunity will allow for these key activities to be completed. The Viral Hepatitis Program expanded in 2020 to provide four linkage-to-care service sites for hepatitis C. These sites along with other partners and stakeholders areas will work to increase access to hepatitis B and hepatitis C testing in high impact settings and improve access to services preventing hepatitis among people who inject drugs. Comprehensive harm reduction programming including syringe service programs (SSPs) are still a relatively new disease intervention in the state. SSPs have a desire to expand referral services, and funding will allow individual sites to approach program engagement and stigma reduction in ways that best serve their surrounding communities. Funding will provide community grants to existing organizations demonstrating innovative approaches to raising awareness and engagement with SSPs. People who inject drugs in Marion County, Indiana (home to the state capital, Indianapolis), face many obstacles to accessing the healthcare they need to reduce the harms of substance use, including transportation, health coverage, and numerous systems spanning a geographic area of 403 square miles. In an effort to increase SSP utilization and enhance linkage to care referrals, the Indiana Department of Health will partner with Marion County Health Department, a local jurisdiction, to model best practices, establishing a clinic with inclusive services, a specialty care clinic. By creating a specialty care clinic tailored to the needs of people who inject drugs, Marion County Public Health Department will bring harm reduction; infectious disease testing, treatment, and prophylaxis; peer recovery and medication assisted treatment enrollment; insurance navigation; immunizations and more to a single, accessible location within a high risk neighborhood of Indianapolis. In continued partnership with national partners including the CDC and local health departments, the Indiana Department of Health is confident that eliminating the burden of viral hepatitis is possible. 1 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Surveillance for Viral Hepatitis – United States, 2018. https://www.cdc.gov/hepatitis/statistics/2018surveillance/index.htm. Accessed on November 11, 2020.
HHS’ Tracking Accountability in Government Grants System (TAGGS) website provides access to detailed descriptions of grants, loans, aggregated direct payments and other types of financial assistance awarded by the HHS Operating Divisions (OPDIVs) and the Office of the Secretary Staff Divisions (STAFFDIVs).
