Hepatitis network for education and testing (hepnet)to improve hepatitis outcomes for people who use drugs - nastad?s project abstract summary for national viral hepatitis education, awareness, and…

Hepatitis network for education and testing (hepnet)to improve hepatitis outcomes for people who use drugs - nastad?s project abstract summary for national viral hepatitis education, awareness, and capacity building for communities and providers (CDC-RFA-PS21-2105)?part a: community education, awareness, and capacity building the hepatitis network for education and testing (hepnet) is a consortium of public health partners, community-based organizations, people with lived experience, and healthcare providers, focused on identifying and addressing the unmet needs of people who inject drugs (pwid) to improve their access to viral hepatitis education, prevention, testing, linkage to care, and treatment. Over the last five years, the national alliance of state and territorial aids directors (nastad) established and has successfully operated the hepatitis testing partnership and learning collaborative under the centers for disease control and prevention (CDC) cooperative agreement?viral hepatitis networking, capacity building, and training (CDC-RFA- PS16-1608). The five-year award has significantly changed the landscape for national support and coordination to improve viral hepatitis testing. The vast coalition and learning community established through the hepatitis testing partnership and learning collaborative is the foundation from which nastad and its partners, the national association of city and county health officials (naccho) and the national viral hepatitis roundtable (nvhr), propose to form a new expanded coalition dedicated to advancing hepatitis b and hepatitis c testing and linkage to care for pwid. Hepnet will align and mobilize nastad, naccho, and nvhr?s existing hepatitis coalitions across state and local health departments, community-based organizations (cbos), patients and clinical providers, and other key partners to establish a consortium of over 100 member organizations. The project is implemented though three main strategies: networking and coalition enhancement?leading, maintaining, and growing the primary partners? Existing nationa l coalitions and networks to share resources, strategies and models to improve access and delivery of viral hepatitis services to pwid; capacity building ? Providing technical assistance and training to selected hepnet members to deliver culturally-responsive viral hepatitis educational outreach to pwid and build their capacity to conduct viral hepatitis testing among pwid of diverse backgrounds and experiences; and campaign implementation?increasing the reach of and exposure to CDC?s national education viral hepatitis campaign materials through promotion to and by hepnet?s members. The project work plan details specific, measurable, and time-phased objectives designed to support ongoing evaluation of the five-year project. Evaluation findings will be used for continuous program quality improvement to improve hepatitis outcomes for pwid of diverse backgrounds and experiences.