What is required from HCV point-of-care tests to reduce the burden of hepatitis C infection? 'Development and clinical validation of the genedrive point-of-care test for qualitative detection of hepatitis C virus

The major advances in hepatitis C virus (HCV) diagnosis and treatment now make hepatitis C infection a curable disease over a short period of time and thus, theoretically, an eliminable disease. In its viral hepatitis elimination plan, the WHO aims, by 2030, to scale-up HCV treatment coverage to 80% and reduce HCV incidence and related mortality by 90% and 65%, respectively.1 This plan is ambitious and requires new strategies for the identification of hepatitis C cases especially in resource-limited countries which bear the highest burden of disease. The WHO estimates that only 20% of the 71 million individuals infected with HCV globally have been diagnosed and <10% have been treated.2 These figures are even lower in resource-limited countries. This poor intervention coverage is not only related to limited access to direct antiviral agents at low cost but also to the high cost and complexity of the conventional...

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