Co-designing LiverCare with Priority Populations

On Saturday 21 March, Hepatitis NSW ran a workshop in Blacktown with the Filipino community. This was part of our work to strengthen community knowledge on hepatitis B and getting input on how we can work together to improve hepatitis B care for their community. We partnered with Dr Elena Cama from UNSW’s Centre for Social Research in Health for this event. Dr Elena presented her work on community attitudes to hepatitis B, specifically with the Filipino community. It was a productive afternoon of learning, conversation, and working together with the community to come up with ways we can do more for the Filipino community around hepatitis B.

Then, on Monday 23 March, Hepatitis NSW held a workshop with the Mongolian community in Rhodes. Another great few hours spent with an a very engaged and knowledgeable community where we discussed viral hepatitis and the Mongolian community, came up with ideas and projects for future initiatives, and learnt huge amounts about the unique community in Sydney.

These workshops are a rewarding experience where we can help educate the community about hepatitis and the community can educate us about their needs, circumstances, interests, and culture.

10th Anniversary of the Listing of DAAs on the PBS

On Thursday 19 March, Hepatitis NSW held an event to celebrate the 10^th anniversary of the listing of DAAs on the PBS.

It was a wonderful well received event, much appreciated with a great vibe.  We were blessed to have in attendance many of the lived experience advocates and other champions of the equal access cause. Hepatitis NSW peers, team and Board members past and present, LHD and Ministry colleagues, sector org colleagues, pharma reps, partners and supporters were all present.  Dr Amanda Cohn, the Greens Health spokesperson also joined for a little while in between parliamentary commitments. 

Our DAA online presence has been live since Thursday night and we encourage you to check it out. 

Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn – posts link to the webpage, specifically highlighting the media release went live Friday morning.  Make sure you have liked and subscribed to Hepatitis NSW on all these platforms, so the campaign appears in your feed.  Please like and share the campaign with your networks and communities.

DAA Web page > Celebrating 10 years of Direct Acting Antivirals (DAAs) on the PBS with links to the media release, a vox pop montage, the timeline to equal access treatment and a historical timeline slideshow.

YouTube > All the individual vox pops can be found on the Hepatitis NSW YouTube channel Marking 10 Years of hep C DAAs on the Australian PBS – YouTube

Clinical Excellence meets Peer Support: HepLink DBS impact at Garden Court

The Garden Court Clinic in Marrickville recently hosted two highly successful hep C testing outreaches, showcasing the power of partnership between HepLink DBS and the Sydney Local Health District (SLHD).

The first event took place over six days in late 2025, where 73 people at the OTP service took a Dry Blood Spot (DBS) test with our HepLink DBS peers. Of those tested, three were identified as positive for hep C and were quickly linked to care.

Building on this momentum, the team returned for a second four-day outreach across March and April this year. This follow-up saw 36 people tested, with one participant found to be positive for hep C. Demonstrating the efficiency of the collaboration, the nurse practitioner from Sydney Local Health District completed confirmatory testing and issued scripts within just days of the initial test results.

This partnership is a winning model for the community. We thank SLHD for arranging the opportunity for us to be part of the collaboration. By combining peer support and DBS testing under the Hepatitis NSW site code with direct clinical pathways, we are ensuring participants receive fast, supportive, low barrier treatment and care.

As one participant put it: “Amazing services, great staff—will definitely come to be tested again.” 

Co-design workshop with Justice Health NSW

This collaboration between Justice Health NSW and Hepatitis NSW centres on strengthening culturally safe hep C engagement for Aboriginal people in custody. Through site visits and yarning-based consultations across correctional centres, participants were invited to shape practical intervention approaches that reflect their needs, preferences, and lived experience.

The strongest and most consistent support was for the “Yarnties” model—an Elders-led cultural program that embeds hep C education within informal yarning, cultural activities, and relationship-building. Participants highlighted that cultural authority, trust, and connection are essential for meaningful engagement, particularly for younger people disconnected from culture. A short, tablet-based hep C education video was also supported as a complementary tool, especially for private or youth-focused learning, though not as a standalone strategy.

A big thank you to the Kirketon Road Centre for hosting this workshop.

Lived Experience Speaker at Parliament House, Canberra

On Monday 30 March, Lauren – Hepatitis NSW’s Project Officer for InfoLine, Speaker Program, Hep Connect – attended the launch of the Fourth National Hepatitis B Strategy and Sixth National Hepatitis C Strategy at Parliament House, Canberra. The event brought together stakeholders from across the sector, alongside senior government leaders, reflecting a shared commitment to strengthening Australia’s response to viral hepatitis and progressing toward the 2030 elimination targets. 

During the event, Lauren had the pleasure of supporting Van – one of Hepatitis NSW’s valued Lived Experience Speakers. Van shared her personal story of living with hepatitis B.  Her powerful and deeply personal account highlighted the ongoing impact of stigma and discrimination and reinforced the importance of centring lived experience within public health responses. It served as a meaningful reminder of the role that community-led advocacy plays in shaping more inclusive and effective approaches within the hepatitis space.

Following extensive national consultation, the strategies build on past successes. They focus on practical action, expanding testing and diagnosis, supporting community-based care, reducing stigma, and ensuring that services reach the communities most affected. The release of these strategies marks both how far Australia has come in the prevention and management of hepatitis B and hepatitis C, and how much work remains. Hearing from speakers such as Van grounds this progress in lived experience and reminds us of the continued need for equitable, community-informed action. 

Hepatitis NSW thanks Hepatitis Australia for organising this event and for their enduring commitment to amplifying the voices of those most affected by viral hepatitis.

Download the strategies here.

4th National Hepatitis C Strategy 2025 – 2030

6th National Hepatitis B Strategy 2025 – 2030

Reverand Bill Crews Health and Wellbeing Centre

Working alongside the amazing STORR liver team from Westmead Hospital, Liam- from Hepatitis NSW’s Peer Partnership program – attended an event at the new Reverend Bill Crews (RBC) Health and Wellbeing centre in Blacktown to engage community for hep C testing.

While the RBC Foundation has been operating a free walk-in medical and community service from this site for nearly two years, they have just launched a monthly service hub event with a wide variety of health, community, cultural, legal and other community resource and support providers in attendance.

People were able to access Services Australia, housing providers, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultural workers supported by clinicians from the local Aboriginal Medical Service, along with many other community service organisations and health providers, including the hep C Point of Care testing carried out by STORR.

Reverend Bill Crews was in attendance to discuss how his team are focusing on growing capacity and awareness of the Health and Wellbeing centre and the now monthly service hub events to ensure easier access to essential services for the local community. Rev Bill also talked about the building of another site in Liverpool, with a similar model to this Blacktown service, to increase the work being done by his foundation across greater Western Sydney.

The next event will be held from 10am to 1pm on Monday May 11, at the Reverend Bill Crews Health and Wellbeing centre, 12-14 Grafton St, Blacktown.

New Hep B and Hep C Web pages

If you have hep B or hep C, or liver health issues, you will have appointments for your treatment. The pages below help you prepare for appointments. They cover the types of appointments you might have, things to bring to your appointment, and some costs and rebates. You can talk or online Chat with our Hepatitis Infoline if you have any questions about appointments for hep B or C or liver health.

• Getting ready for your hep B appointment >>
• Getting ready for your hep C appointment >>

HepLink Provides Free Telehealth Access to Hep C Treatment

Hepatitis Australia, in collaboration with Hepatitis NSW and other national partner organisations, has launched the HepLink Hep C Telehealth Service.

This is a free national initiative to make it easier for people living with hep C to access remote consultations, prescriptions and treatment without needing to attend a clinic in person.

This remote prescriber model aims to lower treatment access barriers experienced through remote locations, health and mobility issues, and community and services stigma and discrimination.

Eligible clients who do not have access to a hep C prescribing pathway can be referred by community and health care workers or self-refer to connect with the Nurse Navigator and Nurse Practitioner via the telehealth’s stigma free and equitable clinical pathway.

Appointments include telehealth consultations, prescription of treatment, and pathology referrals to follow‑up SVR testing to confirm cure.

Who is eligible?

Clients must:

• Be 18 years or older
• Hold a valid Medicare card
• Have a confirmed hep C PCR/RNA positive result within the past six months (Point of Care test PCR/RNA results are accepted)

How to refer

Clients can be referred by services or self‑refer:

• Call 1800 437 222
• Email heplinknurse@hepatitisaustralia.com
• Book an appointment online at heplink.au/book_telehealth
• Check out Service delivery and access Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) Hep C Telehealth Appointment – Heplink Australia

For NSW based enquiries please contact the NSW HepLink Coordinator swilkinson@hep.org.au or call 02 8217 7716.

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