Barriers to effective management of hepatitis C virus in people who inject drugs: Evidence from outpatient clinics

Introduction and Aims: People who inject drugs (PWID) constitute the largest reservoir of hepatitis C virus (HCV). Although effective medications are available and access to care is universal in Italy, the proportion of PWID receiving appropriate care remains low. Design and Methods: To identify the major barriers for PWID to HCV treatment we surveyed a large sample of practitioners working in outpatient addiction centres (SerDs). The survey was conducted in two stages and involved 30.3% of SerDs operating in Italy. In the first, SerD physicians completed a questionnaire designed with a Delphi structure. In the second, SerD practitioners completed a targeted questionnaire to identify barriers to four SerD services in HCV management: screening, referral, treatment and harm reduction. Results: The first-stage questionnaire, in which a Delphi and RAND-UCLA method was used, revealed a lack of agreement among the physicians about barriers to health care. The more detailed second-stage questionnaire indicated the barriers to delivering specific SerD services. As regarded the delivery of all four services, the major reasons for treating <50% of patients were: physician and nurse understaffing, technical, economic and logistic issues. In contrast, the practitioners who responded that they follow protocol recommendations often deliver all four services to >50% of patients. Discussion and Conclusions: HCV treatment remains out of reach for many PWID attending a drug treatment centre in Italy. To meet the World Health Organisation (WHO) target, there is a need to increase economic, technical and staff support at treatment centres using the protocols and the universal health care already in place.