Sexual Health and Hepatitis C: Testing, Care and Treatment

Gay Men’s Sexual Health Alliance has published a new 2024 Factsheet on Hepatitis C: Testing, Care and Treatment.

This new factsheet – available to download in pdf form here – is for front-line, outreach, and public health staff, and others providing sexual health care and the communities of gay, bisexual, queer, and other men who have sex with men (gbMSM).

In Canada, gbMSM are one of the priority populations listed in The Ontario Hepatitis C Elimination Roadmap.

What is Hepatitis C?

• Hepatitis C (HCV) is a liver disease caused by the hep C virus (HCV).
• If left untreated over several years, HCV kills and scars most of the liver—a condition called cirrhosis—and may also result in a form of liver cancer called hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC)
• Gay and bisexual men who have sex with men (gbMSM) have relatively high rates of HCV infection and re-infection.
• As of 2023, 1 in 25 gbMSM in Canada had been infected with HCV in their lifetime.

New Printable Hepatitis C Postcards + Posters

This postcard can be downloaded and printed out at your local organization for community members to pick up!

It includes basic facts about hepatitis C risk factors, encouraging testing, and include QR codes that can be scanned that link out to further information.

This postcard on hepatitis C and party and play can be printed out and displayed in places where harm reduction info is displayed (like supervised consumption sites or health orgs), or places where men meet to have sex (like bathhouses or play parties).

These two posters below are useful for health care practitioners and community workers to have as a reminder on facts about hepatitis C and linkage to their gbMSM (gay, bisexual, or men who have sex with men) population. The QR codes link back to the more in-depth factsheet with sources to relevant data and research.