Grant: Travel Awards - Institute Community Support

The cascade of care for the hepatitis C virus (HCV) describes how many individuals advance through different stages of care for HCV, such as diagnosis, treatment, and testing for response to treatment. This provides information to researchers and the health system to help evaluate health care and services provided to individuals with HCV and to guide potential improvements to policy and services. Developing consistent definitions to use for stages of the HCV care cascade in different provinces may help promote best practices and support teams conducting HCV care cascades. On March 1, 2025, a workshop on HCV care cascade methods at the Canadian Liver Meeting in Quebec City brought together a total of 28 participants. This included researchers and stakeholders from five provinces (British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Ontario, and Quebec), as well as representatives from national organizations. At the workshop, participants discussed data sources, how best to define stages of the HCV care cascade, methods, populations, and challenges. Following the workshop, the current poster and an accompanying paper were drafted to report on the workshop, circulated to participants, and edited to reflect the input and consensus of the group. Consensus definitions were developed for HCV care cascade stages and related measures. Challenges in conducting HCV care cascades were identified, relating mainly to data availability, defining key populations, and building capacity for putting together care cascades. In conclusion, HCV care cascades in Canada can be strengthened by applying consistent definitions for stages of the care cascade across provinces, and collaboration among researchers in different provinces can assist with addressing shared challenges.