National Hepatitis C Resource Manual 2nd Edition

This manual has been developed as a concise source of standardised, currently available, information to assist health care workers.

The project to review and update the National Hepatitis C Resource Manual has been made possible with funding from the Australian Government’s Department of Health and Ageing (the Department) through the Hepatitis C Education and Prevention Initiative.

The Project Advisory Committee was chaired by Dr Scott Bowden, Head of Molecular Microbiology, Victorian Infectious Diseases Reference Laboratory and a member of the Ministerial Advisory Committee on AIDS, Sexual Health and Hepatitis (MACASHH). Members of the Committee represented the following organisations: Hepatitis Australia; the Hepatitis C Subcommittee of MACASHH; the Australasian Society for HIV Medicine; the Australian Injecting & Illicit Drug Users League; the Multicultural HIV/AIDS and Hepatitis C Service; and the Australian Council on Drugs.They gave unstintingly of their time and considerable expertise.

Key organisations in the hepatitis C sector with expert knowledge and understanding of aspects of hepatitis C and its management have provided comments and contributed material during a secondary consultation process. Professor Bob Batey and Associate Professor Greg Dore generously provided their time and expertise to review the final draft.

The Department’s Hepatitis C Education and Prevention Team provided support and direction to the project. Health Outcomes International’s Director, Lilian Lazarevic and Project Manager, Narelle Hohnke coordinated the project.

The revised (second edition) of the manual is based on the original version published in 2001 which made a significant contribution to the understanding by health care workers of hepatitis C and the issues faced by people living with the disease. Evaluation of the original manual, in 2005, deemed it to be a valuable and highly regarded resource, used widely across the hepatitis workforce. Recommendations from the evaluation have been incorporated into the second edition.

The second edition of the manual acknowledges all the key stakeholders involved in the development of the original manual, in particular the Chair of the Project Advisory Committee Professor Bob Batey and the Project Coordinator Judith Jones.

Department of Health and Ageing