Gilead Sciences Canada announced the recipients for its Connect-C Grant Program.
The Program was established in 2017 as part of Gilead Canada’s commitment to help the World Health Organization eliminate chronic hepatitis C infections by 2030.
One of the projects, Linking Hepatitis C Virus (HCV) care to an Opioid Agonist Treatment (OAT)/Rapid OAT Clinic, will be part of the Nechako Centre in Prince George.
“The Nechako Centre OAT clinic models of care need to be flexible and to include a range of intervention options to accommodate the diverse support needs of clients, particularly those with complex health and social problems,” said Cynthia Rondeau, the team lead for the OAT clinic.
“Our project, Linking HCV to Nechako OAT Clinic, will help us develop ways to facilitate care and bridge patients to the services and treatments to cure HCV, strengthen patient engagement, and ultimately improve health outcomes,” said Rondeau.
The recipients for the grant were chosen on their ability to increase HCV prevention and the PG project received $49,920 in funding.
The Nechako Centre project was one of nine projects across Canada to receive this funding.
According to Gilead Canada, it is estimated that 250,000 Canadians are living with chronic HCV and thousands of new cases are diagnosed each year.