Matches in SemOpenAlex for { <https://semopenalex.org/work/W2344234348> ?p ?o ?g. }
Showing items 1 to 60 of
60
with 100 items per page.
- W2344234348 abstract "We read with interest Dr. Shafran's editorial [1] on our study published in November/December 2015 issue of the journal providing a baseline assessment of engagement in the continuum of hepatitis C (HCV) care among sex workers in Vancouver [2]. Given the limited peer reviewed evidence available in this area, we believe that our research, which uses data from a large cohort of sex workers in Vancouver, makes a strong and unique contribution to start filling these gaps. Here, we address the main issues raised by the editorial.While we agree that globally injection drug use is the major driver of HCV transmission, other routes have also been documented. Particularly relevant to our study population is the potential for permucosal transmission of HCV in high-risk sexual practices and sharing of intranasal drug paraphernalia, especially in the context of multiple partners [3].The editorial also appears to overlook the significant limitations of risk-based testing. Research demonstrates that certain risk exposures are frequently underreported due to stigma and fear of disclosing on the part of the clients [4] or failure of ascertainment by healthcare providers [5]. “Symptomatic testing” also has important limitations given that chronic HCV is frequently asymptomatic and that ALT levels are typically within normal range in up to 40% of people with chronic HCV [6]. Importantly, overreliance on risk-based or “symptomatic testing” strategies has resulted in a large proportion of underdiagnosis of HCV, which leads to missed opportunities for optimal treatment and prevention of HCV related morbidity, mortality, and onward transmission. Consequently, HCV testing guidelines are increasingly recommending additional population-based strategies [5].As described in our paper, diagnosis of HCV infection was based on laboratory testing. Other data (e.g., engagement in the HCV cascade) relied on self-reported quantitative data collected through surveys conducted by experienced interviewers, as it is routinely done in epidemiological research and within public surveillance systems. In addition, although our study was not designed to evaluate barriers to HCV care, we discussed potential barriers, as well as potential strategies to overcome them and improve HCV care outcomes. These recommendations are informed by prior extensive research with sex workers and other marginalized populations in our setting that characterized gaps and successful strategies to improve healthcare access [4, 7].The editorial also places a substantial amount of the responsibility for changes in health status to be the responsibility of individuals (“in the end, adult (sex workers) must want to have better health outcomes”) [1] and correspondingly places blame on individuals for whom health status does not improve. This ignores the well-established body of literature pointing to the limited agency of individuals from marginalized populations to enact change in the face of structural and socioeconomic inequities, regardless of their own desire to do so [4, 8]. Our research and many others globally have demonstrated over more than 10 years that failure by governments and policy-makers to address systemic barriers to care (e.g., extreme violence, police harassment) has pushed sex workers away from health access and in many cases forced sex workers to prioritize their immediate safety (e.g., protections from violence) over longer-term health risks [4].Finally, the editorial suggests that HCV treatment should be discouraged among women involved in sex work. Although no data on HCV care among sex workers are available in the literature, multiple studies demonstrate that when appropriately supported other marginalized populations, such as people who inject drugs, achieve rates of sustained virological response comparable to those achieved in the general population [9]. Further, modeling studies suggest that expanding access to persons at increased risk for transmission has the potential to significantly reduce HCV incidence and prevalence, particularly when combined with other harm reduction strategies, and importantly that this strategy is likely to be cost-effective [9]. Withholding HCV treatment from populations with the highest burden of HCV is clearly against international HCV treatment guidelines, including those from the World Health Organization (WHO) and the American Association for the Study of Liver Disease (AASLD)/Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) [9]. Shifting focus away from judgmental blanket assumptions about individuals' abilities to sustain treatment and personal health goals towards strategies that could best engage and support marginalized populations in long-term care would be a far more productive as well as ethical use of resources.Given increasing availability of highly efficacious, simpler, and better-tolerated HCV drugs there is now a real opportunity to control the HCV epidemic in Canada and abroad. Equitable access to early HCV treatment and care, coupled with innovative low threshold models of care, as well as social-structural interventions addressing the underlying factors continuing to fuel the HCV epidemic, will be critical to maximizing the individual and population benefits of HCV treatment and move us closer to the 90-90-90 HCV target proposed by the WHO in September 2015 [10]." @default.
- W2344234348 created "2016-06-24" @default.
- W2344234348 creator A5021844369 @default.
- W2344234348 creator A5041290896 @default.
- W2344234348 creator A5049154470 @default.
- W2344234348 creator A5074441717 @default.
- W2344234348 date "2016-01-01" @default.
- W2344234348 modified "2023-10-16" @default.
- W2344234348 title "Comment on “Hepatitis C and the Sex Trade”" @default.
- W2344234348 cites W1986013904 @default.
- W2344234348 cites W2010926778 @default.
- W2344234348 cites W2030516648 @default.
- W2344234348 cites W2036950796 @default.
- W2344234348 cites W2113245562 @default.
- W2344234348 cites W2159417521 @default.
- W2344234348 cites W2167150962 @default.
- W2344234348 cites W2175653712 @default.
- W2344234348 cites W2187850632 @default.
- W2344234348 doi "https://doi.org/10.1155/2016/1253208" @default.
- W2344234348 hasPubMedCentralId "https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/4904654" @default.
- W2344234348 hasPubMedId "https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27444114" @default.
- W2344234348 hasPublicationYear "2016" @default.
- W2344234348 type Work @default.
- W2344234348 sameAs 2344234348 @default.
- W2344234348 citedByCount "1" @default.
- W2344234348 countsByYear W23442343482016 @default.
- W2344234348 crossrefType "journal-article" @default.
- W2344234348 hasAuthorship W2344234348A5021844369 @default.
- W2344234348 hasAuthorship W2344234348A5041290896 @default.
- W2344234348 hasAuthorship W2344234348A5049154470 @default.
- W2344234348 hasAuthorship W2344234348A5074441717 @default.
- W2344234348 hasBestOaLocation W23442343481 @default.
- W2344234348 hasConcept C159047783 @default.
- W2344234348 hasConcept C2776455275 @default.
- W2344234348 hasConcept C71924100 @default.
- W2344234348 hasConceptScore W2344234348C159047783 @default.
- W2344234348 hasConceptScore W2344234348C2776455275 @default.
- W2344234348 hasConceptScore W2344234348C71924100 @default.
- W2344234348 hasFunder F4320332161 @default.
- W2344234348 hasLocation W23442343481 @default.
- W2344234348 hasLocation W23442343482 @default.
- W2344234348 hasLocation W23442343483 @default.
- W2344234348 hasLocation W23442343484 @default.
- W2344234348 hasLocation W23442343485 @default.
- W2344234348 hasOpenAccess W2344234348 @default.
- W2344234348 hasPrimaryLocation W23442343481 @default.
- W2344234348 hasRelatedWork W1977306685 @default.
- W2344234348 hasRelatedWork W1986972841 @default.
- W2344234348 hasRelatedWork W1995515455 @default.
- W2344234348 hasRelatedWork W2022520514 @default.
- W2344234348 hasRelatedWork W2080531066 @default.
- W2344234348 hasRelatedWork W2620267228 @default.
- W2344234348 hasRelatedWork W2748952813 @default.
- W2344234348 hasRelatedWork W2899084033 @default.
- W2344234348 hasRelatedWork W3031052312 @default.
- W2344234348 hasRelatedWork W3032375762 @default.
- W2344234348 isParatext "false" @default.
- W2344234348 isRetracted "false" @default.
- W2344234348 magId "2344234348" @default.
- W2344234348 workType "article" @default.