Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their assessment of the impact of the provision of housing on treatment completion for vulnerable populations in the United Kingdom suffering from (1) hepatitis B, and (2) hepatitis C.

Public Health England has not made any formal assessment of the impact of the provision of housing on treatment completion for vulnerable populations in the United Kingdom suffering from hepatitis B, and hepatitis C.

Our estimates of the prevalence of chronic hepatitis B and C infection in the UK population are 180,000¹ and 214,000[2] respectively.

Studies of hepatitis B and C in the UK homeless population are limited but a recent survey of people who inject drugs found that those who had ever been homeless were more likely to have antibodies against hepatitis C (42%) than those that were in stable accommodation (34%)³.

Notes:

[1]Department of Health. (2002a) Getting ahead of the curve: a strategy for combating infectious diseases (including other aspects of health protection). A report by the Chief Medical Officer.London

2Hepatitis C in the UK, Annual Report 2014 Public Health England.

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/337115/HCV_in_the_UK_2014_24_July.pdf

3Health Protection Agency, Health Protection Scotland, National Public Health Service for Wales, CDSC Northern Ireland, CRDHB. Shooting Up: Infections among injecting drug users in the United Kingdom 2008. London: Health Protection Agency, October 2009.