The Role of Public Health in Hepatitis Elimination ENDING THE EPIDEMICS: The Role of Public Health in Hepatitis Elimination Murray Penner, Executive Director Welcome to the 6th National Hepatitis Technical Assistance Meeting convened by NASTAD! The theme of this year’s meeting is “Ending the Epidemics: The Role of Public Health in Hepatitis Elimination” Put another way – this meeting is all about you – and the incredible work you are doing every day to address hepatitis in your jurisdictions There is a lot of uncertainty in Washington, DC and around the country right now as President-Elect Trump continues to assemble his cabinet and the new Congress prepares to govern. There is also a lot of uncertainty among health departments about how to address the multiple issues related to hepatitis with little to no funding – and with conflicting or mixed messages from CDC What there isn’t uncertainty about is the scale of the hepatitis epidemics in the US. – There isn’t uncertainty about what needs to be done to prevent new infections. There isn’t uncertainty about the need to test and link people to care, and there is most definitely not uncertainty that everyone living with hepatitis C deserves access to the cure. This meeting is an opportunity for all of us to come together around our the governmental public health role in eliminating hepatitis. It’s an opportunity to connect with others who have been doing this work for years – and to welcome our colleagues who are new to this work. The NASTAD staff and I are excited that you are here and are as committed as ever to support your work when you return home. Before we get into introductions, I’d like to talk through a few slides to help set the context for the next three days. National Hepatitis Technical Assistance Meeting December 5-7, 2016

Mission and Vision NASTAD’s mission is to end the intersecting epidemics of HIV, viral hepatitis, and related conditions by strengthening domestic and global governmental public health through advocacy, capacity building, and social justice. NASTAD's vision is a world free of HIV and viral hepatitis. Earlier this year NASTAD’s Board of Directors updated our mission. We believe this more accurately reflects all of our work and specifically highlights the critical role of governmental public health – the importance of intersecting and related epidemics and the power of advocacy, capacity building and social justice.

Meeting Overview NASTAD first convened this meeting in 2008 as a venue for health department staff working on hepatitis to share successful strategies, hear from federal partners and network with one another and invited partners The 2016 National Hepatitis Technical Assistance Meeting Highlights central role of governmental public health Prioritizes the prevention, care and treatment needs of people who inject drugs Seeks to reframe our response to hepatitis C as a health equity and social justice issue Re-energizes participants to continue their amazing work How many people have been to all six of NASTAD’s hepatitis meetings? How many of you is this your first meeting?

NASTAD Hepatitis History NASTAD was founded in 1992 as a voice for states Included harm reduction in program and policy work since founding Launched hepatitis program in 2000 Support and technical assistance to hepatitis coordinators Incorporated hepatitis into mission in 2006 Held first hepatitis technical assistance meeting in 2008 Program has grown from one staff to 6+ Integrate hepatitis across all program and policy teams Initiated Beth Weinstein Drug User Health Fellow in 2015 CDC HCV testing cooperative agreement in Fall 2016 HRSA HAB co-infection cooperative agreement in Fall 2016 A quick history of NASTAD’s hepatitis work. <at end of slide acknowledge how excited we are to have two new hepatitis staff people joining our team> Alyssa Kitlass who is here this afternoon and will be working on our new CDC HCV testing cooperative agreement Dan Czajka (Saka) who will join us tomorrow and will be working on our new HRSA HAB co-infection cooperative agreement

NASTAD Technical Assistance Technical assistance is available through the following NASTAD programs Hepatitis Drug User Health Health Equity Prevention Health Care Access Health Systems Integration Policy & Legislative Affairs Global No wrong door! Contact any NASTAD staff! Review points on slide

NASTAD Chair’s Challenge Ready to End the HIV and Viral Hepatitis Epidemics Calls on U.S. health departments to accelerate the end of HIV and viral hepatitis in the U.S. Several major developments means that the next five years will present a critical turning point in determining whether hepatitis C will be controlled or eliminated in the US A highly efficacious cure Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) Viral Hepatitis Action Plan National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine report and forthcoming elimination strategy Review points on slide

NASTAD Chair’s Challenge Pass to DeAnn for her remarks

Thank You to Our Sponsors We couldn’t put this meeting on without support from the following sponsors

Welcome to Washington, DC