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Abstract Details
The HepTestContest: a global innovation contest to identify approaches to hepatitis B and C testing
Author information
1
University of North Carolina Chapel Hill Project-China, Number 2 Lujing Road, Guangzhou, 510095, China. jdtucker@med.unc.edu.
2
Institute of Global Health and Infectious Diseases, University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, 130 Mason Farm Rd, CB# 7030, Chapel Hill, NC, 27599-7030, USA. jdtucker@med.unc.edu.
3
SESH Global, Number 2 Lujing Road, Guangzhou, 510095, China. jdtucker@med.unc.edu.
4
SESH Global, Number 2 Lujing Road, Guangzhou, 510095, China.
5
Aaron Diamond AIDS Research Center, 455 1st Avenue # 7, New York, NY, 10016, USA.
6
University of Pennsylvania Neurology Department, 3400 Spruce Street, Philadelphia, PA, 1914, USA.
7
Asia Catalyst, 1109, 1270 Broadway, New York, NY, 1001, USA.
8
WHO Regional Office for South East Asia, World Health House, Indraprastha Estate, Mahatma Gandhi Marg, New Delhi, Delhi, 110002, India.
9
Southwark Council, 160 Tooley Street, London, SE1 2QH, UK.
10
Médecins Sans Frontières, Rue de Lausanne 78, 1202, Genève, Switzerland.
11
World Health Organization HIV Department, 20 Avenue Appia, CH-1211, Geneva 27, Switzerland.
12
Forum for Collaborative HIV Research and the University of California Berkeley School of Public Health, 1608 Rhode Island Avenue NW, Suite 212, Washington, DC, 20036, USA.
13
World Hepatitis Alliance, 1 Baden Place, London, SE1 1YW, UK.
14
Hepatitis C Trust, 27 Crosby Road, London, SE1 3YD, UK.
15
TREAT Asia, Exchange Tower, 388 Sukhumvit Road, Suite 2104, Klongtoey, Bangkok, 10110, Thailand.
16
WHO Regional Office for Europe, UN City, Marmorvej 51, DK-2100, Copenhagen, Denmark.
17
Hepatitis Education Project, 1621 S. Jackson Street, 2t 201, Seattle, WA, 98144, USA.
18
Department of Medicine, Makere College of Health Sciences, PO Box 7072, Kampala, Uganda.
19
London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, Keppel Street, London, WC1E 7HT, UK.
20
The WHO Regional Office for the Western Pacific, P.O. Box 2932, 1000, Manila, Philippines.
21
IRCCS Humanitas Hospital, Rozzano, Italy.
22
EASL International Liver Foundation, Geneva, Switzerland.
Abstract
BACKGROUND:
Innovation contests are a novel approach to elicit good ideas and innovative practices in various areas of public health. There remains limited published literature on approaches to deliver hepatitis testing. The purpose of this innovation contest was to identify examples of different hepatitis B and C approaches to support countries in their scale-up of hepatitis testing and to supplement development of formal recommendations on service delivery in the 2017 World Health Organization hepatitis B and C testing guidelines.
METHODS:
This contest involved four steps: 1) establishment of a multisectoral steering committee to coordinate a call for contest entries; 2) dissemination of the call for entries through diverse media (Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, email listservs, academic journals); 3) independent ranking of submissions by a panel of judges according to pre-specified criteria (clarity of testing model, innovation, effectiveness, next steps) using a 1-10 scale; 4) recognition of highly ranked entries through presentation at international conferences, commendation certificate, and inclusion as a case study in the WHO 2017 testing guidelines.
RESULTS:
The innovation contest received 64 entries from 27 countries and took a total of 4 months to complete. Sixteen entries were directly included in the WHO testing guidelines. The entries covered testing in different populations, including primary care patients (n = 5), people who inject drugs (PWID) (n = 4), pregnant women (n = 4), general populations (n = 4), high-risk groups (n = 3), relatives of people living with hepatitis Band C (n = 2), migrants (n = 2), incarcerated individuals (n = 2), workers (n = 2), and emergency department patients (n = 2). A variety of different testing delivery approaches were employed, including integrated HIV-hepatitis testing (n = 12); integrated testing with harm reduction and addiction services (n = 9); use of electronic medical records to support targeted testing (n = 8); decentralization (n = 8); and task shifting (n = 7).
CONCLUSION:
The global innovation contest identified a range of local hepatitis testing approaches that can be used to inform the development of testing strategies in different settings and populations. Further implementation and evaluation of different testing approaches is needed.