Hepatitis: Disease Control

(asked on 16th July 2020) - View Source

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to Public Health England’s 2019 report Shooting Up: Infections among people who inject drugs in the UK, what steps he is taking to implement its recommendation on reducing the number of new hepatitis C infections through improved harm reduction approaches.


Answered by
Jo Churchill Portrait
Jo Churchill
Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
This question was answered on 5th August 2020
The Public Health England (PHE) 2019 report ‘Shooting up’ suggests that harm reduction interventions for people who inject drugs, including access to sterile injecting equipment and effective drug dependence treatment, can prevent and control hepatitis C virus among this group

Local authorities are responsible for assessing local drug needs and commissioning prevention, treatment and harm reduction services and interventions, which include needle exchange provision.

NHS England and NHS Improvement are working with PHE to review the harm reduction activity that is currently available.

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