Grant: Planning and Dissemination Grant - Institute Community Support

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) remains a major public health problem in Canada, affecting more than 200,000 people and causing more years of life lost than any other infectious disease in the country. In 2016, the World Health Organization set the goal of elimination hepatitis C as a public health problem by the year 2030, a commitment that Canada has endorsed. For the past 14 years, the Canadian Network on Hepatitis C Virus (CanHepC) has organized The Canadian Symposium on Hepatitis C Virus (CSHCV), which has promoted the exchange of ideas between social scientists, public health experts, basic scientists, community members and clinicians all working towards improving prevention, diagnosis and therapeutic strategies to eliminate HCV in Canada. While Canada has made significant progress in meeting treatment targets set by the World Health Organization over the past decade, several challenges persist. The ongoing opioid epidemic continues to drive new infections and highlights the difficulty of achieving hepatitis C control without a protective vaccine. The theme of this year's symposium is "New Horizons in HCV Prevention." Presentations will explore advancements in vaccine science, successes using treatment as prevention, and the importance of harm reduction strategies to prevent new infections. This CIHR Planning and Dissemination Grant will support the 15th CSHCV symposium, held on February 27-28, 2026 in Toronto, to ensure that the symposia continue to be an annual forum for multidisciplinary exchange among researchers, policymakers, and community alike.